


Beautiful Lie

by therealassistant



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: @anyone who thinks this shouldnt exist, You Fools I Do Not Joke About This', but with a twist, im not using honorifics because i am a confused child and english isnt even my first language, im sorry whoops, me: oh whatzzz that??? start entirely new projects??? okay!!!!, my brain on its knees: please continue writing the fanfics you are supposed to work on, see you in the fighting ring, the Batman au no one asked for but are going to get, the original character's are just the canon character's relatives, there are spoilers for the main game in this, virtual reality au, won't say who but they're there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-02-01 14:50:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 50,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12707160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therealassistant/pseuds/therealassistant
Summary: "Can't you get accused of plagiarism if you use that bear for this..?"The dark haired boy looked down at the fabric on the table, deep in thought, before turning back to Himiko, a hint of a smile on his face as he whispered, as if someone could hear through the walls of the small apartment building. "They can't sue me if they don't know who's under the costume."At first, the faux magician narrowed her eyes, before a hint of a smile appeared on her own face a few minutes later, shrugging her shoulders just a bit as she spoke. "... Well, I guess it's fine, then."The killing games continue, causing the rise of an unexpected hero





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i honestly don't know why I made this and I'm not even going to justify myself
> 
> disclaimers: I don't own anything, please don't sue me

As Shuichi looks up at the giant roulette wheel above, he feels the sudden urge to puke in disgust. The bright words on the top of the huge device, "HOPE WINS" flashing in his eyes, permanently engraving itself into his mind, nearly crushing any rational thought he had left.

If this is hope, then he'll be damned. From his fractured memory, he could recall that hope was supposed to be a sign of a new beginning in the games, a fresh start. A way to chase away the despair of the world. This hope couldn't be real, for all it did was invite more killings.

How many more Ultimate Detectives will there be before these games end? How many Ultimate Despairs? Ultimate Hopes? Pianists? Dictators? Astronauts? How many of them have died before in the hopes of ending the killing games only for there to be more? Shuichi can only remember thirteen, but he knows there's more, this is the 53rd season after all.

He can't dwell on that as he blankly stares at Tsumugi, who is rambling on and on about despair. He watches as Kiibo quickly retaliates, saying that hope will always triumph over despair, yet the other two contestants in the room besides him are in the same dazed state he was currently in. He's about to glare at Maki, who had willingly given herself up to another season of this insanity, before realizing that he should have done it instead. He was the protagonist, not her, he was the one that should have sacrificed himself for hope, right? She should be the person walking away free with Himiko.

Suddenly, a claw drops out of nowhere, wrapping around the mastermind's neck, dragging her away as she smiled and waved, cackling madly. Shuichi barely catches the words "Ultimate Despair's Execution: Ultimate Punishment" flashing in his eyes once again before he sees Tsumugi once again, sitting inside a rocket, surrounded by props from the executions he had seen before.

Despite himself, Shuichi can't help but chuckle just a bit. Even to the very end, Tsumugi was adamant about being the 53rd Junko Enoshima, down to her execution. Or did someone simply make her that way? Either way, he stops himself once Maki turns and glares at him, before looking back towards the execution grounds. 

For the rest of the execution, Shuichi felt numb. For some reason he couldn't fathom, seeing the person who was the ring leader of this entire game show, or at least this season, getting boiled, beaten, and almost sliced in half, before being crushed by the piano's lid, did not bring him as much satisfaction as he thought it would. If anything, it just made his disgust for Team Danganronpa grow. There shouldn't be anymore deaths, that being said, no one should have died in the first place.

Right when Tsumugi is crushed to death, the spikes slicing through her body like a knife through butter, his vision begins to go black. He nearly jumps, opening his mouth to shout to the other three occupants in the room. Before he can open his mouth to say anything though, his vision goes dark, and he's dragged into the darkness.

###### 

"Hm..."

Shuichi's hands are gripping the arms of the chair as the person across from him hums in thought, the pen in their hand lightly hitting the clipboard on their lap. The small, dimly lit room the two were in was nearly void of any sound, save for the whirring of the fan above and the humming. Shuichi tried to recall what song the other was humming, wondering if it was something he had actually heard, or something he was told he had heard for the sake of the show. Some trait given by him to make him more relatable to some of the audience. "... I think I see the problem here." A smile adorns the other man's face as he looks back up towards Shuichi, the glasses on his face shining just a bit in the small light before he took them off, placing them in his breast pocket before clapping his hands together. "You, sir, are one of the biggest messes I've ever seen."

Shuichi can't help but laugh sheepishly at the other man's words, although he only grew more tense, shrugging just a bit as he spoke. "Well... I kind of gathered that..."

"Oh, it's not just that." The other man leans forward in his seat, his black hair blocking his face from sight, hiding his flashing smile for a second before it blinds Shuichi once again. "You don't really know what to make of all this killing game stuff. I can't blame you for that, though. I mean, I would be pretty shocked too if I was told that everything about me was made up by some game show employee..." Shuichi's eyes narrow at the other man's words, causing the man sitting across from him to only laugh. "Oh, don't give me that look, we both know that's true!" 

The man's laughter slowly drifted into a cough as Shuichi's glare remained, his smile turning into an awkward frown as he looked back down at the clipboard, taking the small glasses out of his breast pocket once again to look them over. "Let's see... We also got a classic guilt complex, but we already know the drill. Yadda yadda yadda, it wasn't my fault that they died. No, let's look for something more interesting..."

Shuichi mumbled as he tried to sink further into his chair, shutting his eyes as he tuned out the other man's words. How long has he been here? Days? Months? Years? At this point, he had memorized the patterns on the carpet below his feet, as well as the leather of the chair he always sat on. When could he leave? Could he even leave? He knows there's a door just behind the chair he sat on, but he didn't know what was behind said door. There were no windows in the small office either, so he couldn't tell what level floor he was on, or even what time of day it was. 

"... Ah ha! Here we go!"

Shuichi opens his eyes just a bit, at this point used to the other man's outbursts of shock, forcing himself to sit up straight as the other man read something off the clipboard. "How about this? "Anger towards Tsumugi Shirogane and Team Danganronpa"? Mind you, it isn't surprising, but it's better to talk about this than the other poor saps that got killed, right? Let's talk about this instead!"

"I guess so..." Shuichi sighs a bit before forcing himself to sit up straight again, stretching his arms above his head before crossing them, shutting his eyes for a few minutes in thought before speaking. "... I don't think I hate Tsumugi. Well, at least, not anymore..."

"And why do you say that?"

Shuichi ignored the sound of pen running against paper, instead trying to focus on the thoughts that ran rampant in his head. Why didn't he hate Tsumugi anymore? She did orchestra the game, and it was mildly satisfying seeing her getting crushed by that piano. Maybe it was because... "... Because she was just another victim in all of this."

"Oh, really? Like us?"

Shuichi quickly nods his head, no longer looking as exhausted as he was before, almost animated as he waved his hands in front of him. "Well, not really, but it was like she was almost brainwashed too. Like she was kind of being manipulated by..."

Team Danganronpa.

The very thought of those directors causes rage to boil in Shuichi's heart, cutting off most rational thoughts in his mind, his hand turning into fists, his nails digging into his skin, almost as if he would punch whatever executive that decided on his character if they were right in front of him. All he could settle on for now, though, was mumbling angrily in his seat. "... I would do anything to stop them..."

The sound of pen running against paper stops, yet Shuichi doesn't look at the other man, not yet. "... Anything?"

Shuichi can only nod his head slowly, lowering his hands so that they now held onto the arms of the seat he was on once again, his nails now digging into the leather. He does look towards the other man, though, once the other man throws the clipboard he held onto the small table next to him, a hint of a somewhat devious smile on his lips as he spoke. "Well, that's all well and good, but before you do anything to stop them, you should probably wake up."

Shuichi can only stare at the other man in confusion for a few minutes, watching as he stood up slowly, walking over to Shuichi before tugging on his sleeve. "Are you deaf?" The other man points behind the chair Shuichi was on, tugging on Shuichi's sleeve a little bit harder this time as he spoke. "You have to wake up. Just walk out that door, and that's it. You're home free."

Slowly, the black haired boy looks behind him in fear, tensing up just a bit in case something jumped out at him, before noticing the normal wooden door behind him. "..." Slowly, Shuichi stands up, only having to move forward a few steps before the other man lets go of his sleeve. A few more steps, and he's right in front of the door, grabbing the brass doorknob, turning it slowly before opening the door just a bit. 

He glances outside to see nothing but an inky blackness, and yet, this does not terrify him at all. No, what terrified him was staying in that office room for any while longer with the man that wore his face.

Shuichi steps through the door without looking back, unable to see the smile on the other man's face as he vanished into the darkness once again.

###### 

Maki couldn't recall the last time she had ever felt so alone.

Actually, that was technically wrong. Correction, she had never recalled a time in her real life where she had felt so alone. She could recall long, somewhat warm winter nights at the orphanage she grew up in and warm picnics with the other kids at the orphanage near the lake. In contrast, as an assassin, she could remember cold nights spent on rooftops, or the sand sticking to her skin in searing deserts as she waited for her target to appear.

Even now, though, when she wasn't living her fake life, and was living a, what most people considered, a well off life, there was still a small void left behind in both her heart and spirit. This baffled her to no end, since being alone never really bothered her in the first place. Now, though, it slowly ate away at her, plaguing her even more so than the deal she had made with Team Danganronpa, and had to follow through with a year later.

Once Team Danganronpa crossed her mind, though, what she didn't linger on was the fact that she would be making a second appearance in another killing game, or the friends she had lost, but rather, she thought about the two other survivors in the killing game.

She had been the first one to wake up from the small coma the virtual reality program put her through about a month after the killing game ended, with Himiko waking up a week later. She had only seen Himiko a few times in the hospital both of them woke up in, before both of them parted their separate ways, with Maki refusing to stay with Himiko out of sheer guilt. Last time she checked, Shuichi woke up just a few months after Himiko did, which was now just a week ago. 

She had not seen Shuichi since he woke up, although it was not of her own will. 

The faux detective was told to stay with someone for a little while in fear of the side effects of having an extended coma from the program, with Himiko welcoming him with open arms. The second Shuichi went into the red head's apartment, though, he never stepped foot outside of it. At this point, she couldn't tell whether or not he was dead, and was almost too afraid to ask Himiko the truth. Why she was afraid, though, was a mystery to her.

Was she afraid of being told that Shuichi was dead? Or was just scared of talking to Himiko?

She jumps out of her seat as the sound of a doorbell rings inside the small house, echoing down the halls and bouncing around in Maki's head. At first, she can only stare towards the doorway for a solid minute in shock. Did a fan of the show find out that she lived here? Dammit, she had been so careful to keep that a secret, she didn't want to move again. The doorbell ringing across the house again forces her to move, almost stomping towards the front door. 

Might as well get this over with.

She swings the door open, her face already forming into a scowl, opening her mouth to tell the person behind the door to just go away, before she freezes up completely. 

The young man in front of her looks exhausted, the dark circles under his eyes almost taking up his entire face, shivering in the cold winter weather, even if he was wearing a thick jacket and wool hat. If she didn't know the person in front of her, she would have guessed that he was homeless due to his thin goatee and long hair. Even if she hadn't seem him in months, though, she instantly knew who it was.

"... Shuichi..."

She doesn't realize she had spoken until the man in front of her flinches, before quickly nodding his head. "Y-Yeah, it's me." He sounded breathless, and Maki was half tempted to ask him if he walked to her house. She didn't live that far from Himiko's apartment, only about a half hour away, just in case, yet something tells her to not ask as the young man in front of her rubs his hands together. Instead, she questions him about something else. "... Why are you even here?"

Shuichi freezes up, his hands stopping for a second, before he brings them to his face, blowing on them in an attempt to warm them before he continued speaking. "I w-wanted to... A-Ask you s-s-something..." 

Maki does not say anything in reply, only crossing her arms, prompting the other to continue. "I-I..." Shuichi lowers his hands, turning just a bit as he talked to Maki. "I n-need to show you s-something first..."

Maki almost sighs in annoyance, stopping herself at the last second. She had nothing to do today, so it wasn't like she would be missing anything if she did go with Shuichi. Besides, isn't this what she wanted? Someone to talk to? 

Before she thinks about it a bit more, she nods her head, grabbing a jacket off the coat racket next to her before stepping outside, shutting the door behind her. She didn't bother to lock it, it wasn't like she had anything of value inside the house. 

She turns to Shuichi, already rubbing her hands together to keep them warm as she gestured towards him. "Where are we heading?"

A hint of a smile appears on the young man's face, and Maki can't help but smile in return, even in the bone biting cold. "Himiko's apartment... E-Everything's there..."

The walk to Himiko's apartment isn't that bad, considering the two inch thick snow, as well as the occasional ice they had to walk either on or around. Still, they manage to get to the dingy looking apartment building in record time, Shuichi nearly running inside to try and escape the cold air, with Maki following close behind.

Shuichi sighed in relief once he was inside, taking off the winter hat as he walked forward, sweeping his hair out of his face. Instead of going for the elevator, he headed for the stairs, much to Maki's surprise. In the killing game, she could recall one time the young man mumbled about how a set of brightly colored stairs was menacing. Now, though, he easily went up the dimly lit staircase, which seemed to be littered in garbage and other unsanitary items.

She simply shakes her head, sighing before following Shuichi up the stairs. She shouldn't be judging him like this, he could be the Shuichi she saw in the interview tapes, the Shuichi she met in the killing game, or both. Either way, she shouldn't question him over going up a flight of stairs without being terrified.

They only go up three flights of stairs before Shuichi walks down another dimly lit hallway, mumbling under his breath as he pocketed the hat, withdrawing a small key. "Himiko's working down at the gas station right now, so she won't be back for another hour..." Maki caught a small smile appearing on the other's face as he stopped in front of a door, twisting the key inside the small lock. "I'm actually really happy for her... It took her a long time to even apply for a job, and I don't mind being left alone for awhile..."

Maki can only nod a bit in acknowledgement, watching as Shuichi finally unlocked the door, leaving it open as he walked inside. Maki followed in only seconds later, shutting it behind her before blinking quickly as Shuichi suddenly flicked the light on. 

In contrast to the rest of the building, the small apartment actually looked quite nice. A few couches decorated the living room, with a small table and lamp sitting next to one of them, a small TV in front of both of them. Two dark hallways were on both sides of the single room, leaving Maki to guess which one led to the bedrooms, and which to the kitchen. 

Shuichi tossed the key onto the small table, taking off the jacket as he sighed in relief. "Finally, some warmth..."

For now, Maki chose to ignored Shuichi for a second, looking down the left hallway to see a darkened kitchen, barely able to make out what was inside. She turned to see Shuichi already walking down the other hallway, the white shirt he wore standing out in the darkness.

Maki waited until a light appeared somewhere down the hallway before following him, trying her best to navigate in the near darkness before making it to the doorway the light originated from.

The second she opens the door, the first thing she notices is that the walls are covered in writing. All of it pointing towards the center, where the Team Danganronpa logo was.

She can only stare dumbly at the wall for a few minutes, trying to decipher what Shuichi was trying to do, before deciding to ask the man himself. Now that she wasn't looking at the wall, she noticed Shuichi already picking up another marker on a desk in the room besides the small bed. He smiled sheepishly once he noticed Maki's confused, almost accusing looking stare, uncapping the marker as he spoke. "I-I must have picked up some of Ouma's... Investigating habits..." He trailed off a bit, before clearing his throat, turning back to face the wall. "Alright, so, do you know what this is?"

Maki could only reply in silence, which seemed to be an answer the fake detective was expecting, circling a few more pictures tacked to the wall before turning back to Maki. "Do you know how Team Danganronpa gets all that money for those killing games? The virtual reality? The mind wiping? Hell, even the merchandise?" A small laugh escaped his throat as he capped the marker, shaking his head. "It's crime. They run gangs. It's ridiculous, really. How can a huge company like this gain money through crimes? I mean, it kind of makes sense, they would probably need to get a lot of money through some illegal means when they first started, I just didn't expect this..."

As Shuichi trails off once again, Maki can only sigh in disbelief. "Organized crime? Really? They run one of the most popular game shows in the world, why would they need to still turn to crime for money?"

Shuichi shrugs in return, shaking his head once again as he sits down on the chair next to the wall. "I... Don't have an answer to that... But the fact remains, they get a lot of money through all of..." He taps the wall with the marker. "This. And I don't think the police can stop them at this point. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they knew about everything Team Danganronpa has done, and are still doing."

Slowly, a scowl begins to appear on Maki's face as she glared at Shuichi, then at the wall again. "... Why are you telling me this?"

"... I want to stop it, and I need your help."

Maki's scowl of anger turns into one of shock as she turns to Shuichi once again, her head moving so fast her hair nearly slaps her face. "... Are you serious? How can we stop all of this?"

Shuichi doesn't smile this time, for once looking completely serious as he continued speaking to Maki. "I have some ideas... But I can't tell you until you agree to work with me on this, alright?" He leans forward a bit in his seat, holding his hand out to Maki as he spoke. "Deal?"

Maki stared down at the hand in front of her. On one hand, she could decline his offer. She could accept the fate she had been given, and die a year later for the world's entertainment.

Or she could help Shuichi with whatever time she had left, and at least put a dent into Team Danganronpa.

She doesn't think twice as she reaches forward, grabbing the other's hand tightly as she glared down at him, a hint of a smile on her face as she gave her answer. "... Deal."

###### 

In the small time that he had worked in this town, Hashi Yukio had never made so much money. Yes, he hadn't worked for a company like this before, and not in this way, but that wasn't the point. What really mattered was that now he had something to rub into his brother's face once he could make it back home.

For now, all he had to really worry and complain about were the idiots he worked with.

"So, uh... You two from around here..?"

Hashi didn't have a chance to bite back as the other goon with him spoke up quietly in return, their voice almost at a whisper. "I don't think we're supposed to be talking about ourselves..."

Well, at least the idiot was right about one thing. Their employer had told them to wear masks, to both hide their identity from the prying eyes and so they won't turn against each other outside of work. Still, the man that had spoken before continued to talk, as if he wasn't aware of that one rule. "It's just, you know, I've been working with you all for a few weeks... Well, I think it's you guys, and I thought it was a bit weird that-"

"Shut up."

The other man seemed to gawk behind his red mask at the other's words, almost dropping the gun in his hand in shock. "N-No need to be rude! You didn't need to tell me to-"

Hashi held a hand up in front of the other's face, looking up towards the warehouse's ceiling as he whispered. "Seriously, shut the hell up." The mad in the red mask went silent, staring at Hashi in as he looked around. "... Did either one of you hear that?"

The other man with the two, one who chose to wear a black ski mask, narrowed his eyes at Hashi, yet his hands gripped the gun in his hands a bit tighter. "... Hear what?"

"..." Hashi shook his head, a small sigh leaving his mouth. "Nevermind, it was probably just the wind." He wish he could take off this stupid bear mask, it was starting to itch a bit, and it was unbearably warm. Not to mention, it greatly diminished his vision to the point he could only see what was directly in front of him.

While the man in the ski mask relaxed, the man in the red mask only got angry at Hashi's words, setting his gun back down onto the table next to him as he scowled. "Man, don't say that. My heart is already weak enough as it..." He trailed off slowly, his eyes visibly widening behind his mask at Hashi. "..."

"... What the fuck are you looking at?" Hashi turned to the man wearing the ski mask, as if he could provide an answer, yet the other man was also staring at Hashi in shock as well. Slowly, the gun dropped out of his hand, taking a few steps back, only confusing Hashi further. He's about to open his mouth once again, before he finally notices the edge of a larger shadow outlining his own.

Hashi snaps around, already raising his gun to shoot at the intruder in the dimly lit building, before the weapon is nearly snapped out of his hands. He doesn't have the chance to move once again as the gun is then slammed into his head, causing him to slam into one of the storage units before falling to the ground, the mask he wore nearly blocking his darkening vision. He could only watch in growing horror as the person, or thing, that hit him tackled the man in the red mask, while the man that wore the ski mask ran away in horror. Or, he tried too, as once the blur was done taking care of the man in the red mask, it quickly ran after the man in the ski mask, leaving Hashi behind.

When the blur was no longer visible, and the warehouse fell silent, Hashi could only give a small, breathless sigh in relief. Save for the pounding headache and inevitable bruise, he seemed to get the best outcome. At least he didn't his face beaten in like the mad in the red mask did.

He relief was shortly cut off, though, as he was suddenly lifted into the air, giving a breathless scream as the mask on his face was ripped off, thrashing madly in an attempt to get out of the other's grip. Now, he could tell that the blur was actually a person, a man by the looks of it, wearing a ski mask and some sort of armor, giving the man an almost bulky appearance. Nothing about the man seemed normal, save for his eyes, hidden behind a pair of red goggles. 

"Hashi Yukio?" Hashi freezes up at the other's deep voice, barely able to give a proper reply besides a small whimper. That was the only answer the masked man needed, his grip on Hashi's collar tightening as his eyes narrowed behind the goggles. "Where are the rest of your men? It can't only be you three!"

Hashi quickly shook his head, before stopping once his collar dug into his throat painfully. It took him a few minutes to finally manage to get some words out of his mouth, nearly choking in the other's grip. "T-Tomorrow... Supposed to meet'em... T-Tomorrow..."

"..." The other man's eyes seemed to widen just a fraction behind the goggles, before narrowing once again, shaking the man in his hands as he spoke. "Don't lie to me!" His voice echoed across the warehouse, making Hashi flinch. "You were supposed to meet the rest of your little group today, I-"

The masked man was cut off as two gunshots echoed across the room, originating from somewhere in the darkness.

He sees that the first bullet hits the masked man, causing him to give a small yell in pain, dropping Hashi to the ground as he glared behind him.

He doesn't realize that the second bullet had hit him until he notices the dull pain in his chest, raising his hands to feel blood slowly pooling out the front of his shirt. He tries to take a few steps forward as the masked man dashed off into the darkness, a dull thud resounding across the room as he began to fall onto the ground.

He's dead the second his skull collides with the cold ground, the last thing he sees is the flash of another shot illuminating the masked man, his goggles flashing a menacing red in the darkness.

###### 

Shuichi tries his best to stand up straight as he walks back into the apartment building, small backpack in hand, his now much shorter black hair unable to hide his slightly bruised face from sight. No one was in the small lobby, save for the desk guard passed out at his desk, much to Shuichi's relief. Even if the other man didn't care that much about the building's occupants, he would no doubt be curious about the black eye and bruises on his face, which Shuichi didn't have the patience or time to think of some excuse for them. 

It's been six months since he convinced Maki to help him get rid of all, or at least some, or the trouble Team Danganronpa had caused. It's been five months since Maki started training him inside the small cave by her old orphanage, although he could clearly recall the first day he had arrived, with the fake assassin nearly throwing him into the small river running through the cave, smirking almost smugly as she said that he had a long way to go. 

It's been only one month since he's put on the mask and finally started to fight in the streets, and he's already making so many mistakes.

He eyes the elevator for a second in longing, the bruises on his body somehow hurting more at the idea of walking up three flights of stairs, before shaking his head, moving towards the garbage littered staircase instead. He nearly limps up the steps, digging into his pocket to try and find the key he had for the small apartment. He's only able to find it once he's front of the apartment's front door, sighing in relief. He didn't want a repeat of what happened last week, it took forever to think of a good excuse to give Himiko over how he lost it. What did he say again? He dropped it in a sewer grate while walking to work? He couldn't remember what he said exactly, he could only remember that it caused Himiko to laugh for the first time since he woke up from the virtual reality world.

A small frown appeared on the man's face as Himiko crossed his mind. He could only guess what she was going through, after all, she had lost some friends through the killing game, just like he and Maki did. She was the only survivor that tried to get rid of Danganronpa from her life entirely, both mentally and in the real world, never speaking about Tenko, or anyone else that had died.

Her laughing a week ago had reassured Shuichi, but now, he should probably stop going out at night to hunt down those criminals for awhile, especially after what happened tonight.

He shakes his head once again, taking a deep breath to calm himself, forcing his hands to move and unlock the door. Once it opens, though, his eyes only widen in shock.

Himiko's curled up on the couch, hugging her legs to her chest, her entire body hidden by a huge, fluffy blanket, the witches hat she usually carried around, yet never wore, on the ground in front of her. Her head snaps up at the sound of a door opening, her eyes widening once she sees the black haired boy. Shuichi barely catches the tears falling down the red head's face before she shoots out of her seat, the blanket a heap on the floor as she nearly tackles Shuichi in a hug, causing him to drop the backpack in his hands in shock.

At first, the two just stand in silence, save for the sound of Himiko's shaky breathing, before she finally gets out of the hug, glaring up at Shuichi as she clenched her hands into fists. "... Where have you been? Do you know how late it is..?"

Shuichi opens his mouth to speak, before quickly shutting it. He really had no excuse ready for this, he had expected Himiko to be asleep at this time, like usual. He glanced down at the watch on his wrist, before looking back up at Himiko, smiling sheepishly as he replied. "... Two am..?"

Immediately, Shuichi knew this was the wrong answer, as Himiko's look of worry turned into one of anger, a scowl appearing on her face as she now glared at the faux detective. "Ha ha, very funny. You should give up the whole crime fighting thing and be a comedian instead." Himiko must have caught the way Shuichi's eyes widened in shock, as her anger quickly turned into confusion. "... What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

At first, Shuichi only stares down at Himiko, before looking behind him into the hallway, looking back and forth to check if anyone was there before grabbing his backpack off the ground, quickly shutting the front door behind him. "..." He remains silent for a few minutes longer, staring at the door in thought, before turning back to Himiko, the sheepish smile from before completely gone. "... How long have you known?"

"..." Himiko shrugs as she looks down at the ground, trying to make small circles in the ground with her feet as she whispered. "... It's not that hard to find out... I saw your room a week ago, and I remembered all the times you weren't here, so I put two and two together and..."

"Have you told anyone?"

Shuichi curses as Himiko flinches at his cold tone, running a hand down his face as he shook his head, mumbling under his breath. "... Sorry, it's been a rough night for me..."

Himiko only watches in silence as Shuichi limps over to one of the couches in the room, dropping the backpack next to his feet as he sat down, running his hands down his face as he sighed. Why did he think this was a good idea? He wasn't only putting himself in danger, but he was also endangering anyone he's ever interacted with. Not to mention, if anyone ever found out that he was the masked man, he wouldn't only get sued, but probably even killed.

"... How bad was it?'

Shuichi nearly jumps out of his seat, only managing to calm himself at the last second once he realized that it was only Himiko who spoke, on her knees by the side of the couch, her arms crossed against the arm of the couch. Just Himiko, not Maki, not a masked man, not someone who was dead yet continuously haunts him in his dreams. 

At first, he debates on whether or not to tell Himiko the truth, before eventually giving up. He was too tired of lying, almost disgusted at this point. If there was ever a time to tell the truth, it was now, no matter how awful it will sound. "... I saw someone die in front of me."

"... Really? How?"

Shuichi ignores how indifferent Himiko sounded, they both saw many people die, she probably thought this was no different than the awful deaths they have seen before. 

He can't blame her for thinking that, before tonight, he felt the same way.

"... I was holding him, asking him about the rest of his crew, when one of the other guys he was with tried to shoot me... He didn't miss his mark, but he shot the other guy too, and..." Shuichi has to take another breath before continuing, shutting his eyes a bit as he leaned back in his seat. "... I didn't even realize he was dead until I took out the other guy..." A somewhat bitter laughs leaves his mouth as he opens his eyes once again, lazily looking down at Himiko. "It's kind of funny, really. The man that shot at us was someone I failed at taking out, I thought he just ran away... That isn't even the worse thing about it, though." Shuichi doesn't notice the tears starting to fall down his face until his vision grows blurry, his voice shaking as he got quieter. "I-I didn't... I didn't care at first... He was just l-laying down on the ground, h-his blood staining the ground, and he almost looked like..."

"... Someone who died in the game?" Himiko's voice is barely a whisper, yet Shuichi still flinches a bit, simply nodding his head in reply, trying his best to wipe the tears off his face as he shut his eyes. "..." Himiko sighed, resting her chin against her arms as she shut her eyes. "... I... Think I can understand what you're trying to say..." She opens her eyes to lazily look up at the young man in front of her, her voice getting a bit quieter. "... Are you still going to do the entire... Crime fighting thing..?"

At first, Shuichi is tempted to just shake his head. He didn't want to experience anything like that ever again. For a second, he could have sworn that who he was under the mask was not him, but the young man he saw in the interview tapes. The one who willingly and happily described his own execution after murdering someone else, not the young man who was a coward and hid behind a mask to do the unthinkable. Hell, he probably wouldn't be able to disagree with someone suggesting he was a bit crazy at this point from seeing so much death, and he would probably agree with them.

Yet he's only doing this to stop these killing games from continuing. If no one will step up to try and stop everything Team Danganronpa was doing, then he'll just have to be the one to step in.

He sighs, forcing himself to sit up, flinching a bit from the bruise he got from the bullet earlier. He knew it could be worse, and it was one of the reasons why he didn't ask Maki where she got the bullet proof armor. That didn't mean that it wasn't painful as hell to get shot anyway.

He forces himself to keep moving, picking up the backpack he set down earlier as he stood. "Y-Yeah... I just... Need to take a break, that's all..." He then forces a small smile onto his face, walking towards the small table as he opens the backpack. "... You want to see something cool?"

Himiko stares up at Shuichi for a second, before standing, nodding her head as she walked over to the table, watching in silence as Shuichi takes something out of the backpack, before laying it out on the table.

She nearly gasped at what she saw, her eyes widening just a bit, before she turned to Shuichi. "... Are you really going to wear this?"

Shuichi nods his head, lifting up a few parts of the costume in front of him to reveal the bullet proof armor underneath. "Yep... I thought that if I wanted to go against Team Danganronpa, it would be pretty funny to have their own mascot thrown back into their face..." He then chuckles, letting go of the costume, allowing Himiko to look it over as he spoke. "Maki also added a few extra design choices to make it more... How did she say it... Combat ready? It's not done yet, mind you, but still..." 

Himiko's head snaps up to face Shuichi, and for the first time in nearly half a year, an emotion besides worry and exhaustion flashes in her eyes. "... I can finish it, if you want." 

Shuichi stares down at the magician in shock, before he quickly nods his head, relief evident in his voice as he spoke. "Really? Oh, thank you so much Himiko, you're a life saver..!"

The red head blushes a bit at the taller boy's praise, picking up the mask of the costume, looking it over in an attempt to hide her face. "It's no problem... Now that I think about it, I can probably make a few other things for you, if you want..."

"Th-That would be amazing! Thanks!"

"Nyeh... It's no problem..."

Silence reigns over the two for awhile, yet whether it was over exhaustion, or the two thinking about whatever project they had to conduct in the future, neither could tell.

Eventually, Himiko's words break the silence.

"Can't you get accused of plagiarism if you use that bear for this..?"

The dark haired boy looked down at the fabric on the table, deep in thought, before turning back to Himiko, a hint of a smile on his face as he whispered, as if someone could hear through the walls of the small apartment building. "They can't sue me if they don't know who's under the costume."

At first, the faux magician narrowed her eyes, before a hint of her own smile appeared on her face a few minutes later, shrugging her shoulders just a bit as she spoke. "... Well, I guess it's fine, then."

###### 

As Shuichi sits down on the edge of one of the many steel beams decorating the top of the ceiling, he can't help but glare down at the people below. Every single person inside this building were nothing but the lowest scum, and yet here they were, plotting something only a few blocks away from a police station.

He digs into one of the containers onto his belt, trying to find one of the objects Himiko had given him, a capsule that would release pink smoke everywhere once it was detonated. It took him only seconds to find it, yet in the small amount of time he spent, he looked over the amount of people below.

There were only six people currently in the building, a few of them armed. He would have to take them out first, quickly and quietly, before they got a chance to fire a shot. He didn't want a repeat of the incident a week ago, he still had nightmares about that man dying in his hands, and Maki had made training even worse after it.

He held the small, round, pink capsule in his hand, using his other hand to lower his visor down over his left eye, enabling him to see through the smoke, before tossing it to the ground below. Once the capsule hit the ground, it immediately exploded into a pink cloud of smoke.

He quickly jumped down from the beam, the boots he wore, and as well as the armor, cushioning his fall a bit as he rolled onto the ground, before diving towards the first armed thug. He snatched the gun out of their hand, using the butt of the gun to slam it across the thug's head, instantly knocking him over and, hopefully, out, before tossing the gun away and out of sight. He repeated this process with the second armed thug, before moving on to one of the unarmed thugs. The smoke began to clear as he grabbed the shocked man, tackling him to the ground, the two rolling a bit before Shuichi ended up on top, snapping and breaking the other's arm in the process.

He slowly stood up as the smoke finally cleared, allowing the remaining three thugs to barely be able to see him. One of them widened his eyes once he saw Shuichi, turning to the other thugs as he questioned them. "Hey, uh... Doesn't that guy kinda look like the bear from-"

Shuichi dashes forward, before swiftly uppercutting the talking thug, prompting the other two to try and help their injured friend. The fight only ends in seconds, as Shuichi almost dances around the thugs, dodging every hit they send his way, sending each one sprawling onto the ground after a few hits. Once the thugs are down, he sighs in relief, removing the red visor from the black side of his costume, turning to one of the crates inside the building as he mumbled. "Now that that's over with, time to see what they were trying to hide..."

Once he gets to the crate, he first tries to rip it open, before noticing the small lock on the lid of the crate. While it did surprise Shuichi, it didn't inconvenience him that much, simply removing, what seemed to be, a small box with a few wires sticking out of it off his belt, before sticking the wire part into the lock. It takes only a few seconds for a click to be heard, before Shuichi places the box back onto the belt he wore again.

He would have to thank Himiko later, because even if her past life as a magician was fake, it seemed her talent and spirit for magic was real, evident by what she had made for him.

Shuichi rips off the crate's lid, only to groan once he saw that no there was no light to illuminate what was inside. He lowered the visor once again so he could see what was inside, before freezing up.

The crate was empty, save for one thing. Shuichi leaned inside, using the gloved white hand of his costume to pick up the object, a card. It seemed like a normal playing card, a dancing Jester juggling balls decorating the front of it, while the Danganronpa logo covered the back of it. He's about to throw it away until a laugh echoes around the room.

"Nishi nishi... I didn't think I would be seeing you so soon..." 

Shuichi whips around, his eyes darting across the darkened warehouse. Even with his night vision visor covering one of his eyes, he couldn't pinpoint whoever spoke in the darkness. Yet he didn't need to see the speaker to know who was talking.

He would be able to recognize that laugh, even if the owner of it had died nearly half a year before.

"Show yourself!"

His modified voice startled him a bit, almost sounding way deeper than his actual voice, before forcing himself to stay focused. He takes another item off his belt, a grappling gun, aiming it towards one of the steel beams above so he could try and get a better vantage point. 

He's about to shoot it when the sound of a gunshot rings across the room, a burning pain reverberates in his hand seconds later, causing him to drop the grappling hook as he gave a small yell in pain.

"A-Awh, I'm sorry! I've seen what you've done, and I just knew I couldn't take you down on my own! Soooooo, I brought a friend!"

At first, Shuichi can't quite comprehend what the other is saying. A friend? Dead people don't have friends. It's until he hears the dull thud from above does he finally remember where he is, rolling forward, grabbing the grappling hook with the hand that he knew wasn't broken, barely dodging the person who just jumped off the steel beam from above. 

He glares at the armored person in front of him, their face covered by a pitch black helmet, their eyes highlighted by two red beams of light. Shuichi can only see the weapons in their hands, though, two pistols, which he guessed was the reason why his hand was now broken. Was this person also dead? If so, who was it? They knew how to fight, so it could be Tenko, or Kaito, or maybe even Gonta.

Shuichi quickly shakes his head, forcing himself to stand up straight, angling his body to hide his broken hand, narrowing his eyes at his opponent. "Who are you..?"

The masked person seems to glare right back at Shuichi, if the red lights on their masks narrowing meant anything, pocketing the guns they held as they stared at him. "... I could ask you the same thing." 

Their voice was warbled, modifying their voice so that they almost sounded like a computer that spoke with many voices at once. Shuichi couldn't pinpoint their identity with their voice alone this time, and while this somewhat frustrated Shuichi, he also felt somewhat relieved. At least he could, for now, easily pretend that he wasn't potentially fighting an old friend.

Speaking of old friends, the voice from before finally spoke up, almost sounding excited. "Oh, are we having a little meet and great party? Don't leave me out of it!" Suddenly, one of the crates behind the masked person in front of Shuichi bursts open, causing packing peanuts to scatter everywhere. In the center of it all, inside the crate, was a very familiar face.

Shuichi's eyes widened once he saw the familiar flash of purple hair and pale skin. While this person wore a striking green suit with purple gloves, there were still some parts of their outfit that stayed the same, like the checkered bandanna that now covered the lower half of their face.

Ouma Kokichi waves madly, lowering his bandanna a bit to reveal a wide, almost maniacal grin, leaning forward over the edge of the box as he yelled. "Hiya! I'm the new plague that's going to bring this shitty city to it's knees! You can call me the Joker!" He pouted as he pointed towards the person in the black mask, watching as said person walked over to him. "And this spoil sport is Executioner. They're not as bad as you think they are, just B-O-R-I-"

Executioner grabs the top of Ouma's head, pushing the small young man back under the packing peanuts, the red beams of light on their face growing somewhat brighter in anger. "... Hush, you took me here to kill this man. If I did not work with you, I would finish you off right now just to shut you up."

This was too much.

Shuichi couldn't comprehend what he saw in front of him. He had seen Ouma's dead body in the killing game, crushed by a hydraulic press, as well as everyone else's that had died in the killing game. 

The dead shouldn't come back.

This couldn't be real.

He had to get out of here.

He dug into the small container on his belt once again, this time using his broken hand to do so, yet he feels no pain, just a dull throbbing at this point.

As usual, it takes him just a second to find the small pink capsule, and another to throw it onto the ground.

When the Executioner and Ouma are finally out of the smoke, still coughing and hacking, Shuichi is no longer there, the warehouse empty except for them and the unconscious thugs.

###### 

"... So, what you're saying is, is that Kokichi is actually alive?"

Shuichi flinches at both Maki's question, and as she tightens the bandage over his hand. Apparently, his hand hadn't broken when Executioner shot it, even if it felt like it, it was simply bruised. He didn't need to be reminded by Maki that he needed to be more careful, or else his hand would have ended up broken, yet the fact that she was doing this was reprimanding enough as it was. He winces once more in pain, before he manages to speak. "Yes, but he looked... Different, and he acted different, too..."

Himiko looks up from her workbench for the first time since Shuichi told them about Ouma, lifting up the pink stained goggles hiding her eyes so that she could clearly see the costumed man in the dimly lit cave. "But we saw him die, didn't we? It's not like anyone could really come back from that, even in a simulation..."

Shuichi couldn't help but agree with that, after all, Iruma did get killed when they went into the simulation during the killing game. Was it really a stretch to think that everyone that died in the killing game would stay dead?

Maki gives the bandage on Shuichi's hand one final tug, looking it over one last time before she stood, glaring at the red head as she gave her own answer. "Should it really matter? The fact is, Kokichi is somehow alive, and he's dressing up and calling himself by some stupid nickname like this idiot here."

At first, Shuichi opens his mouth to agree, before he realizes what Maki says, a frown appearing on his face instead. "Hey, I didn't think up the name, and I'm not about to walk up to whoever thought it up and change their mind... Also, you're helping 'this idiot' fight crime."

"My point still stands, 'Monokuman'." She doesn't look back towards Shuichi, instead walking over to Himiko, who went back to creating more of the pink smoke bombs, the pink goggles hiding her eyes once again. "What we should really be asking is this. Who brought him back, and are they going to bring back anyone else who died?"

The other two people in the cave froze up, their eyes widening just a bit. Shuichi couldn't read minds, but he could tell that everyone else was thinking about the chances of certain people coming back from the dead like Ouma did, and they were terrified of what state they would be in once they came back. 

Himiko looks back up from her workbench once again, the smoke bomb she just finished making rolling around in her gloved hand for a moment, before she finally speaks up. "... That other person you were talking about, Executioner, do you think that they were..?"

Himiko eventually trails off, yet Shuichi already knows what the other was going to ask. 

Was the person that was with Ouma tonight Tenko?

It takes a few minutes for Shuichi to form the right answer, shrugging his shoulders as he forced himself to his feet. "I don't know, Himiko. They were wearing a mask, and their voice was changed as well, probably through some voice modifier. Yet they clearly knew how to fight. We might need to investigate them more..."

Himiko clenches the small smoke bomb in her hand to the point that Shuichi worried that the smoke bomb would explode in Himiko's hand. Eventually, Himiko takes a deep breath, her grip on the pink capsule loosening before she turned back to the workbench. "... How are we going to do that?"

Shuichi bent over to pick up the mask he dropped onto the ground earlier, trying to think of a proper response. He could try and track the Executioner, but that meant that he would have to return to the warehouse, and there was a chance that both Ouma and the Executioner were still there. He didn't think he would actually be able to handle both of them in his current state, so that threw that plan out the window. He groaned in slight irritation, taking the cape off from his back as he spoke. "We should start by investigating who hired the Executioner, or who made Kokichi that way."

Maki scoffed at Shuichi's words, looking over the objects on the workbench Himiko worked at as she spoke. "Well, isn't it obvious? Whoever made those two is also the same person that told us they died."

Shuichi nodded in agreement, clutching the mask in his hand tighter in disgust. He should have expected this. He knew that in the second killing game, those who had died in the virtual world ended up surviving in the end. He was an idiot for taking Team Danganronpa's word. "We need to find someway to get more information..."

"... I think I can do something about it."

Shuichi and Himiko looked over towards Maki in surprise, making the other narrow her eyes annoyance. "What? Did you guys forget? I have to go through another killing game in four months. They're already preparing for it..."

The look of shock on the other's faces turned into one of pain, because both of them had forgotten, in the chaos that was becoming a vigilante, that Maki was going to be in another killing game. 

Shuichi quickly forced himself to recover, nodding his head quickly as he placed the mask on another workbench. "Alright, we can work with that. Just try not to get caught."

Maki scoffed, a small smirk appearing on her face as she looked back towards Himiko's workbench. "I'll try my best, but it's not like they could do anything to me if they did..." Her smirk disappears as she grabs one of the objects on the workbench, what looked like a boomerang shaped like Monokuma's left eye. "... I still can't understand why you insist on mimicking that bear..." Before Shuichi can respond, she's already setting the boomerang down, grabbing another object on the table, which looked similar to the grappling gun Himiko had made for Shuichi. "What even is this? Where did you get the equipment to make this?"

Himiko quickly grabbed the clawed gun out of Maki's hand, much to the other girl's annoyance, setting it back down on the workbench as she gave an explanation. "I'm calling it the 'Bear-claw', and it's for grabbing stuff. Like guns, and maybe even a person if you aim in the right place. And sorry, I won't tell you where I got the stuff for it, trade secret."

Shuichi tuned out the other's inevitable banter, throwing his mask onto the workbench and then placing the cape on a chair before sitting down. Unlike Himiko's, his workbench wasn't covered in tools and various other equipment, but laptops and other technology, as well as the data he had kept on his room's walls. He didn't want a repeat of Himiko finding out his identity like that, and it wasn't that hard to move everything from his room to the cave. He quickly turned on his computer, bringing up the files he had collected for tonight's events.

He had been investigating various arms deal for the past few weeks, with minimal results. He had been able to stop a few deals, yet it seemed minuscule compared to what he knew so far about Team Danganronpa's operations.

But what happened tonight was new. He had never heard of Ouma, or rather, the Joker before tonight, or about the Executioner. He went onto his laptop, looking up 'Joker' first to see if there was anything about him.

Much to the black haired boy's surprise, there was some results. A few newspaper clippings detailing some small scale crimes committed by an unknown man and a few other criminals, yet every single crime scene carried one thing, a card with a joker decorating it.

Shuichi grimaced at the pictures the articles provided, showing dozens of people with disgusting, wide grins, every single one of them in what seemed to be immense pain. "Kokichi, what the hell do you think you're doing..?"

He quickly took out the tabs, and, to satisfy his own curiosity, looked up 'Executioner'. In only a few seconds, he got just what he expected, which was next to no results about who he was actually looking for. He sighed in slight annoyance, taking out those tabs as well before turning back to his work.

He'd have to look up more info on Ouma and the Executioner later, for now, he had to do whatever he could to try and find out more information on the arms deals. 

Right when he's about to get to work, the police radio on his workbench goes off, causing everyone in the cave to freeze up.

Maki had been the one to bring the radio inside the cave, which only went off if a major crime was occurring, and Shuichi didn't suspect that he would ever have to use it, hell, he didn't even know how to work the damn thing. 

Slowly, Maki walked away from Himiko's workbench, moving over to the police radio as if it was a bomb that was about to go off. Once she was in front of it, though, she quickly went to work, turning it on. At first, the radio only emitted a harsh static, causing Shuichi to flinch, before Maki quickly adjusted the settings. Soon, the static turned into quick and choppy words.

"... peat! We have a shooting going on in Grand Bank, multiple casualties! Requesting backup! I repeat, requesting-"

The words cut off by a loud bang, followed by a loud scream of pain, and static was left behind again. This time, though, Maki doesn't have to adjust it to have another voice resound from the radio. "... Hello? Anyone hearing this?"

Shuichi's eyes widened at the voice, turning to Maki to see her reaction. The fake assassin stared at the radio in shock, yet she didn't move a single inch, both of them remaining silent to hear what the voice had to say next. "Never could work these damn things..." This time, the voice sounded gruff, almost ragged, before it went back to a more normal sounding tone. "Whoever's hearing this, don't come inside the bank for the next hour. If I see anyone that I don't recognize, I will kill every last person here? Do you hear me?"

Shuichi's already getting up, placing his mask back onto his face before grabbing his cape, trying his best not to look at Maki, who was still staring at the radio in shock. Himiko, who couldn't hear the radio that well from where she was, looked at Maki in concern before turning to Shuichi. "... What's happening? Is something wrong?"

The now costumed man didn't give her an answer as he moved, only grunting as he grabbed the Bear-claw off Himiko's workbench, as well as a few other smoke bombs and the boomerangs Himiko had been working on, before walking away. Himiko's eyes widened a bit as Shuichi moved towards the cave's exit, getting up to stop him, removing her pink goggles. "W-Wait, your hand is still-!"

Too late, Shuichi vanishes into the darkness of the cave, nearly sprinting towards the exit. The last thing he hears before leaving is Maki quietly saying, almost whimpering, the name of the man who spoke on the police radio. "... Kaito..."

###### 

It takes only a half hour for Shuichi to make it to Grand Bank, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, his cape trailing behind him. Once Shuichi finally sees the bank, he waits on a rooftop a block or so away, lowering his night vision visor over his left eye to see, grimacing at what he saw.

The building was surrounded by police officers, all of them facing the bank's entrance, guns trained on the front door, with multiple reporters standing behind them. It's the first time he's ever seen civilians at a crime scene, and the most amount of people while he was wearing the costume. If Kaito wasn't inside the bank, he probably would be more hesitant about trying to stop the heist, but now, he wanted to see what had happened to his friend. Would he be the same person that he was in the killing game, or was he the man he saw in the interview tapes? There was also the possibility that he was now someone else entirely.

Shuichi shook his head, instead forcing himself to move, taking the grappling gun off his belt with his bruised hand, using it to move over to the top of the bank. Thankfully, no one had heard him over the chaos below as he moved from rooftop to rooftop. Once he was on the bank's roof, he pocketed the grappling hook, shaking his bruised hand as he walked around the roof to find some sort of entrance, cursing under his breath. He really shouldn't have used his injured hand like that, or else he would make it so that his hand wouldn't heal for a lot longer.

He found what he was looking for only seconds later, a grate leading into the building's ventilation system. He knelt down, gripping the grate with his gloved hands, pulling it off after a minute, before tossing the grate off to the side. He quickly jumped inside, almost crawling through the vents, trying his best to keep the amount of noise he made down to a minimum.

It took awhile for him to finally make it to another grate that led him to a part of the bank that actually had people inside, although it wasn't part of the lobby or the vault, much to his dismay. Rather, it was inside a small security office, where multiple thugs watched over about a dozen hostages, guns trained on their backs. The masked man froze up, staring through the grate in fear. He had never dealt with a hostage situation before, and now that he was facing one, he was slowly starting to remember how dangerous this entire situation was.

Still, that didn't mean that he wouldn't try and save the hostages, just that he had to be more careful. He took a deep breath, before looking over the inside of the security room once again, for once taking it all in. It was now that he realized that there wasn't that many thugs inside the room, only two, both of them wearing masks, who were both a distance away from each other. One wasn't even looking at the hostages, but the cameras decorating the wall in front of him, while the other was just beneath Shuichi.

"... Do you think the boss will have us kill these guys?"

Shuichi grimaced at the thug's words, forcing himself to move quickly and quietly. He hoped that the thug wasn't referring to Kaito just now, because Kaito would never harm anyone unless he absolutely needed to, right? He wouldn't kill an innocent person or order for their death just because, right?

Shuichi quickly removes the grate, before hooking his feet onto the edge of the opening. "I don't think so. Well, not until we get all the money and leave..."

Once the thug below him is done speaking, Shuichi quickly lowers himself so that he was now hanging from the ventilation's opening, wrapping an arm around the man's neck in a choke hold while covering his mouth so he wouldn't be able to warn the other. The hostage's eyes widened at the site of the man struggling in his grip, while the other thug didn't even notice. There were a few moments of silence while the thug in Shuichi's hands slowly passed out, with the costumed man dropping him once he stopped struggling, before pulling himself back into the ventilation. He jumped down to the ground quietly as the other thug spoke up again, a tense laugh leaving his mouth. "I guess, but I sure as hell hope not. Their blood would really stain my clothes, and I don't want to explain how I got them to my wife..."

"Really now? Well, now I feel bad for your wife."

The thug jumped at the deep voice echoing in the security room, turning around as he raised the gun in his hand. "Who the hell just-"

He doesn't finish his sentence as Shuichi grabs the Bear-claw off his belt, aiming it at the other man before shooting. It grabs the thug by the shirt, dragging him towards Shuichi so fast that he nearly slams into his fist. He goes unconscious instantly, with Shuichi simply watching as the man dropped to the floor.

Once he's done, he looks over towards the hostages, before going speechless. He's never talked to civilians before, and he hadn't planned on anything comforting to say. Instead, he just goes with what he feels is best to say in the current situation. "Stay in here until the police come inside, I'll take care of the rest of them." He stares at the hostages for a few seconds more, before quickly turning towards the wall behind him, which showed where every security camera was currently pointed at.

The first one he looked at was the camera inside the vault, and his heart almost dropped in his chest. There were about five unarmed thugs inside the vault, and in the center of it all was a purple haired man with a mask covering half of his face, the mask resembling the darker side of Monokuma's face. The masked man seemed to be yelling at the others, waving the gun in his hand as he did.

Shuichi nearly punched the screen, before taking a deep breath to calm himself. He was about to see Kaito anyway, whether he wanted to or not, and could question him later, for now, he had a job to do.

He looked at the other screens to see that three more men patrolled the rest of the bank, each of them armed with a rifle. He looked a bit closer, before finally noticing what he needed, another ventilation grate leading to at least one of the thugs. Shuichi quickly moved around the unconscious thugs, trying his best not to make eye contact with the hostages as he finally made it to the ventilation's opening, about to jump up when a quiet voice spoke up.

"... What are you?"

His head snaps down to look at the hostage that spoke, who flinched away at his gaze. He remained silent for a moment, debating about whether or not he should actually answer the other's question. In the end, though, he eventually gave his answer, his voice barely above a whisper. "... I'm just a man."

Before the other could question him further, he leaps up, grabbing the edge of the grate with his gloved hands before climbing inside, disappearing into the safety of the darkness once again.

This time, it only takes him a solid minute to find the correct grate he was supposed to get out of, the legs of a thug visible behind the steel bars. He rolled onto his back, using one foot to push onto the grate gently enough so that it wouldn't burst out. Once he saw it dent enough to the point the screws came off, he was back onto his knees, pushing the grate forward a bit and then off to the side.

Once he's able to, he quickly grabs the thug in front of him by the legs, the larger man giving a startled yell as Shuichi drags him into the vent, before being cut off as Shuichi claps a gloved hand over his mouth. Again, the man is out in seconds, allowing Shuichi to exit the grate to hunt down the other two men.

He takes them both out in a few minutes, leaving them unconscious on the cold aluminum floor. He quickly heads off towards the vault, almost sprinting there, before stopping just at the edge of the opening. He wonders how he was going to take out five of those thugs at once, considering how it's the most he's ever had to deal with. He's reaching to his belt to grab a smoke bomb when someone to his side tackles him.

He can barely comprehend what happens next, one moment, he's standing to the side of a vault, the next, his head is smashed into the ground, held down by the person that nearly broke his hand earlier tonight. At first, he tries to struggle out of the masked person's grip, before stopping once the other grabs his mask. If he moved anymore, the mask he wore was going to come right off in front of all these people, which was something he couldn't afford.

"Well well well, look what we have here."

Shuichi tensed up at the gruff voice, his eyes darting up towards the purple haired man walking towards him. Only half of Kaito's grin was visible, and yet it still sent shivers down Shuichi's spine. This wasn't his friend from the killing game, this was the young man who signed up for the killing game to kill everyone for cash. 

Kaito bent down onto his knees, raising his gun so that it was aimed at Shuichi's head. "We got ourselves our own private freak show, now isn't that just fan-fucking-tastic?"

The other thugs in the room cheered, while the person that held Shuichi down simply glared at the purple haired man, the red beams on their helmet almost flashing. "... What is with the theatrics? You are just as bad as the other man I was working with earlier..."

Much to Shuichi's surprise, the gun that was aimed at his face quickly changed targets so that it was instead pointing at the Executioner, the purple haired man's voice taking a more normal tone as he yelled. "Don't compare me to that fucking lunatic, alright? I'm not him!"

The Executioner stared at Kaito in silence, showing no reaction whatsoever to being yelled at, while the thugs in the room all went silent. Shuichi watched in growing worry as Kaito took a few deep, shaky breaths, before speaking, his voice once again taking that gruff tone. "You know what? Fine, if I'm being theatrical, let's have our own little death match, right here, right now." Kaito gestured towards the rest of the thugs in the vault, motioning them to follow him as he gets outside of the vault. "You want him dead, right?" Kaito smirks as the rest of the thugs follow him out of the vault, shutting a gate behind the last one before turning back to the two masked people inside the vault. "This door won't open again until one of you die, so... Let's get this show on the road."

Shuichi can only feel a creeping sense of dread as the Executioner lets go of his mask, getting to their feet before taking a few steps away from Shuichi, allowing him to stand. At first, he debated whether or not he should actually get up and fight. Even if the other had nearly broken his hand, he didn't want to kill them. Yet he all too quickly realized that just laying down would simply be him accepting a swift death by the Executioner. Quickly, he rolled back onto his feet, standing just the way Maki had told him to hundreds of times, one of his hands grabbing a smoke bomb on his belt as he glared at the Executioner.

The Executioner stared at Shuichi in silence for a few minutes, their entire body relaxed, their hands casually at their hips, close to the two pistols attached to their belt. "... Why are you doing all of this?"

Shuichi froze up for a second, confused at the other's question. Was he being interrogated? He didn't think that the other would want to talk to him, that they were just sent by Team Danganronpa to take him out. He debates whether or not he should give an answer, like with the hostages.

In the end, he says nothing, much to the masked person's annoyance. "I don't understand. You weren't hired by anyone, correct? So why would you seek out trouble like this? Is it because you wish for fame? For some unforeseen fortune? Or maybe for some sort of selfish, self righteous cause..."

At this point, Shuichi could tell that the other was trying to provoke him into answering. Once again, he doesn't speak, but instead moves into action. His hand moves to grab the smoke bomb at his belt, throwing it on the ground in one swift motion. Instantly, the entire vault was covered in pink smoke, causing the thugs behind the bars of the vault, as well as Kaito, to cough, all of them taking a step back. 

Shuichi didn't know if the other person inside the vault could see through the smoke through their mask like he could with his visor, so he moves swiftly before the Executioner could gain back their bearings. He throws a swift punch into the Executioner's stomach, the other barely flinching as they were hit, before he raised his fist to hit the Executioner again. 

This time, the Executioner caught his fist, the red lights on their mask flashing as they threw Shuichi off to the side. As Shuichi rolled on the ground, he caught the Executioner reach for one of the pistols on their belt. Once Shuichi was on his feet again in just a few seconds, he grabs a boomerang off his belt, before throwing it at the Executioner's hand. The masked person gave a startled yell as the boomerang hit their hand, stumbling back a bit as Shuichi ran towards them again. This time, Shuichi tackles the Executioner to the ground, causing both of them to slam into the metal gate blocking the exit of the vault.

Shuichi almost felt his ears ring as his head collided with the metal bars, momentarily dazed, before he shook his head, glaring back down at the masked person he had just tackled. The Executioner didn't seem as fazed as Shuichi was, even if they had hit the metal bars harder than he had, even managing to struggle, albeit weakly, in Shuichi's hands.

As Shuichi stared down at the masked person, an idea suddenly sprang into his mind. He reached for the other's helmet, his hands clipping onto the edges of it, before screaming in pain as a bolt of electricity coursed through him. It wasn't enough to knock him out, but it was enough to cause the Executioner to freeze up and for Shuichi's hands to shake.

It was then that, to Shuichi's shock, the smoke began to clear, revealing who was the winner of the fight inside the vault.

At first, no one said a single word, all of the people inside the vault staring at the two masked people, before Kaito suddenly laughed. It was a disgusting sound that made Shuichi scowl as the purple haired man walked forward. "It looks like we have our winner! Go on then, finish it up, and then we'll open the door and let you out."

It took a moment for Shuichi to realize what Kaito was asking for, and his eyes widened behind his mask. He stood up quickly, nearly yelling at Kaito as he quickly moved away from the Executioner. "No, I don't kill, and you don't either! You're supposed to hate killing people! That's how you were in the game!"

Kaito's visible eye widened at Shuichi's words, the gun in his hand lowering. "... The game..?" The gruff tone was absent from Kaito's voice this time as he shut his visible eye.. "... You mean the killing game?"

Although Shuichi knew that he was treading on thin ice, he continued to speak, nodding his head as he took a step forward. "Yes, the killing game, don't you remember? You were Kaito Momota, luminary of the stars!"

Shuichi ignored the thug's confused and worrying looks as Kaito continued to hum in thought, now looking towards Shuichi. "... Yeah, I think so..." Once again, his voice was absent of that gruff tone, which Shuichi took as a good sign. "... Yeah, you're right, I'm Kaito, although, I'm pretty sure that-"

"Freeze!"

Shuichi tensed up completely as a light flashed in his eyes, causing the thugs and Kaito to sharply turn around, shielding their eyes from the light. Shuichi is about to yell out to whoever spoke, removing his night vision visor, before a gloved hand is wrapped around his mouth. A bang echoes across the room, before the vault is filled with smoke, although this one is clear instead of a bright pink. He has no time to struggle as he is dragged into a floor grate he hadn't noticed before, his mouth still covered once the person that dragged him shut the grate, plunging both of them into darkness.

He doesn't know who dragged him underground until two bright red lights shone in the darkness.

The gloved hand over his mouth keeps him from screaming, his eyes wide underneath his mask, yet the Executioner doesn't move much, only pointing above them. It is only then that Shuichi hears the sound of gunshots and officers yelling.

He's about to slap the hand off his mouth when the Executioner finally removes their hand from his face, making him finally take a breath he wasn't even aware that he had been holding. "... Don't ask questions. We need to move, it's only a matter of time before they find us here."

Even when their voice was lowered to a whisper, it sounded almost deafening in the enclosed space they were in, causing Shuichi to flinch just a bit as he lowered his night vision visor over his eye again. "Alright, just lead the way."

Now that he could see, the Executioner nodded their head, turning so that they were facing the direction behind them, before quickly crawling through the vent. Shuichi followed not that far behind, trying to keep his distance in case the masked person in front of him was leading him to a trap. Yet, for some reason, he doubted it. They couldn't have planned this far into the fight, especially since they were the one who had lost.

Now that he had the time to think about it, though, he wondered why the Executioner was helping him escape. They were trying to kill him only seconds ago, after all, so why the change of heart?

It takes them a few minutes for them to finally make it outside, into a small alleyway to the side of the building. The Executioner is the first one to get out of the vent, helping Shuichi to his feet once he had made it to the end of the vent. As Shuichi dusted himself off, he looked off to the side, unable to keep a relieved sigh from leaving his mouth as he saw Kaito being led to one of the multiple cop cars, glad to see his old friend alive, before giving an almost pained groan. God, Maki was going to kill him for allowing Kaito to get arrested.

He doesn't even notice that the Executioner is staring down at him until he faces forward again, freezing up under the masked person's gaze. "... Why didn't you kill me back there?"

Now this was probably the easiest question Shuichi would answer all night, forcing himself to stand up straight as he stared right back up at the Executioner. "Simple, I don't kill. What reason would I have for ending someone else's life?"

"..." The Executioner simply nods at Shuichi's words, before turning back towards the end of the alleyway, watching as the cop car holding Kaito sped off. "... You talked to that man like you knew him from somewhere."

This question wasn't as easy as the last one, and Shuichi mentally cursed at himself for talking to Kaito that way before. He should have been more careful, and now he was paying the consequences for his actions. "... So what if I did? Have you met him before? You seemed to be working with him tonight."

"... I think I have talked to him before tonight..." Shuichi was surprised at the other's answer, considering he didn't expect one in the first place. "My memory is kind of... Scrambled..."

Scrambled? What kind of person used that to describe their memories? Still, Shuichi remained silent, and the Executioner didn't say anything else, both of them simply watching as the police cars drove away. This time, at least Shuichi got more info about the Executioner, like how they were possibly a participant in the killing game as well.

"... You know what would be perfect for this?"

Shuichi's gaze snapped back to the Executioner, the red beams of light on their mask shut off, as if their eyes were shut in thought. "... What?"

"Chopin, twenty four preludes number 4, E-minor." The Executioner then lets out a static laced laugh, not yet noticing the way Shuichi's eyes widened under the mask. "It's silly, isn't it? How I can only think of music at a time like this? Yet it's somewhat relaxing, don't you think-?"

"... Kaede?"

Shuichi doesn't realized that he's let his own thoughts slip out of his mouth until the Executioner's head snaps to him, the red beams of light now flashing a bright red. In one swift movement, they grab Shuichi from around his throat, actually managing to pick him up and slam him into the wall.

Shuichi can already feel the hand tightening around his throat, making it harder to breath as seconds went on. In the heat of the moment, he reached up, grabbing his mask. "W-Wait!" For a second, the grip on his throat loosens, and Shuichi debates whether or not he should actually do this, before he ripped his mask off. He's already made a dozen of mistakes tonight, what's another one to the pile. "Kaede, i-it's me!"

"..." This time, the Executioner lets go of Shuichi, allowing the young man to gasp for breath as his knees slammed into the dirt. In between his gasps for breath, though, he hears a hiss of air, followed by the sound of a something hitting the ground. He looks up to see that what was thrown against the ground was the Executioner's mask, and he looks up even further to see long blonde hair surrounding a face he never thought he would see again. "... Shuichi?"

###### 

This time, when Shuichi returns to the cave, Maki isn't there. Himiko later explains that the other survivor had gone home to rest, unable to think straight after hearing Kaito over the radio.

For now, though, the shorter girl only stares up at Shuichi as he walked through the entrance of the cave, this time with another masked person in tow. "... Sh-Shuichi..." The pink colored capsule she holds in her gloved hand is only halfway full, yet it seemed like she would still use it given the chance as she stared at the masked person behind Shuichi. "... Is that..?"

At first, Shuichi nods his head, before stopping, then quickly shaking it, a sheepish smile on his face. "Kind of..? Well, not really, I guess, since they're not trying to kill me anymore. No, this is..."

He trailed off as he realized that he couldn't simply introduce the person behind him, at least easily. Thankfully, the masked person behind him does it for him, walking forward as they reached for the helmet covering their face. Himiko stands up, taking a step back before the masked person takes the helmet off their head, causing Himiko's eyes to go wide. 

Kaede's smile seems exhausted, almost sad, yet it still radiated some sort of warmth as she waved at Himiko, setting the helmet she had worn for so long to the ground as she quietly spoke. "Hey, Himiko, long time no-"

She was cut off as the red head ran forward, enveloping the armored young woman in a hug, tears springing to the shorter girl's eyes as she sobbed. "Kaede..! We thought we would never see you again..!"

Kaede looks as if she was about to throw Himiko across the room due to the sudden hug, causing Shuichi to worry for only a moment, before the fake pianist seemed to relax, uneasily returning Himiko's hug as she laughed sheepishly in return. "... Y-Yeah, me too..."

Shuichi allowed a quietm relieved sigh to leave his mouth at the sight of the two girls, taking his mask off as he walked over to his workbench. He had worried that Kaede wouldn't even be able to recall Himiko, due to, according to Kaede, the memories that Team Danganronpa had messed with. 

Kaede hadn't told him much about what happened to her after she had died inside the virtual reality, yet what she had told him was incredibly concerning. Apparently, Team Danganronpa was using all the people that died in the killing game as their own puppets, mixing and giving them different memories to suit their new role. They had basically made Kaede into another Ultimate Assassin, while turning Kaito into some sort of lunatic with his old pre-game mindset and in-game mindset. She had no idea what they had done to Ouma. If anything, they had just made the him a ruthless killing machine with no regard for human life.

As for the others, she had no idea what happened to most of them. She had yet to tell Shuichi what happened to some of them, out of either fear or a lack of time.

For now, though, he doesn't question Kaede, only allowing her to talk to Himiko, who quickly showed Kaede what she had been working on since she decided to help Shuichi, with Kaede showing Himiko her own equipment.

The red head had flinched once Kaede showed her the dual wield pistols she had, with the fake pianist quickly placing them back on her belt once again to grab something else. For the most part, though, what Kaede had was non-lethal, which was only a few smoke bombs and a device similar to the Bear-claw Himiko had made.

Himiko was in the middle of explaining something she had made after Shuichi ran off, some sort of explosive gel, when she suddenly yawned, her eyes drifting shut for a second before she sets the device onto her workbench, glancing down at the watch on her wrist. "Oh god, it's five am..." She forced herself to her feet, covering her mouth once again as she yawned. "I should probably go to bed now..." She froze up at the other two's confused looks, staring back at them before she quietly spoke up. "What? Have neither of you gone to sleep before?"

Shuichi frowns from his own workbench, finally setting down the police radio in his hands to turn to Himiko. "It's not that Himiko, it's just... You're exhausted, do you really think that you can walk back to the apartment like that?"

The silence the magician gives is the only answer Shuichi needs, causing the now unmasked young man to sigh as he stood up. "You can sleep here, if you want. I think Maki dragged some cots down here once while we were sparring, let me just..."

As he walks off into the darkness of the cave, Kaede looks down at Himiko, who slowly sits back down behind her workbench, slowly taking off her gloves and goggles. "... He's really changed, hasn't he?"

Himiko only hums lazily in agreement, somewhat resembling her killing game counterpart as she mumbled out her reply. "Ahuh... He really didn't like how the killing game ended... I don't think he would have done anything if you hadn't inspired him to stand up and face the truth back then, though..."

Kaede stares down in silence at Himiko, shocked by the redhead's words. It was clear that she didn't think that her words had inspired the other like this, and right when she opens her mouth to question Himiko again, Shuichi returns, a rolled up cot in each hand, with a blanket draped over his shoulders. "Found them!" The black haired boy grunted as he placed both of them down on the flat cave ground, rubbing his hands together as he stood. "I grabbed another one for you, Kaede, in case you wanted to head off to sleep too. I only found one blanket, though, but Himiko can use my cape to keep warm."

Himiko seemed to light up a bit at Shuichi's words, which gave her enough motivation to move out of her seat towards Shuichi, who was quickly setting up one of the cots. 

Kaede stared at the black haired boy in something akin to wonder for a few moments, before forcing herself to move, picking up the helmet she had dropped before. She quickly sets up her own cot, placing her helmet next to her once she was done, before taking off the armor she wore, revealing the baggy black shirt and sweatpants she wore underneath, leaving her armor and belt underneath the cot.

As Shuichi walked over to her to give her the blanket, she looked up towards him in concern, brushing her hair out of her face to see him clearly as she questioned him. "What about you? Last time I checked, tonight's been rough for you too."

The black haired boy doesn't respond at first, looking deep in thought as he handed Kaede the blanket, before he eventually gives a small laugh, waving Kaede off as he spoke. "I just need to finish something tonight, and then I'll go to bed. I'll be fine." He notices how Kaede's eyes drift towards his bandaged hand, forcing his smile to be more reassuring, his voice getting quieter. "... Really, I'll be fine..."

"..." Eventually, Kaede nods her head, sighing in resignation as she sat down on the cot, wrapping the blanket around her. "... Alright, fine, but don't stay up for that much longer, alright?"

Shuichi nods his head as he walks back over to his workbench, grabbing his cape off his chair before giving it to Himiko, who snatches it out of his hands quickly, wrapping herself up in the black and white fabric as she laid down. "I promise."

Himiko falls asleep the instant she lays down, and it takes awhile for Kaede to finally pass out. Shuichi, though, remains awake for another hour, messing with the police radio to figure out how the damn thing even worked. Eventually, though, like the others, he falls asleep, his head laying against his workbench.

For the first time in half a year, his dreams are not laced with nightmares of murderous bears and friends dying, but are filled with people who spoke of stars and going to space, and of melodies no one has ever heard.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guaf... ahkfbhnui... thank you everyone for the support I didn't really think anyone would like this. it's because of all of you that I decided to continue this. Seriously. The reason why the first chapter was so long and had so much stuff happening was because that was supposed to be the only chapter. If I knew I would continue it I wouldn't have done some things so soon (revealed who Executioner was, make Shuichi's transition into Monokuman so fast, etc), since I literally wrote it in three days with little to no sleep because I wanted to finish it, yet I won't change it. I'll probably go back to fix a few typos and such but nothing major. updates for literally all of my fics won't be as frequent as they should be, but I do have a schedule planned for which order I'll work on them (which I'll type onto my bio or whatever so check that out if any of you are curious). also who else is excited for the Batman Anime (Batmanime) that was announced? Im fucking hyped. anyway, onto the disclaimers.
> 
> i own nothing.
> 
> now onto the show

_"How many more bones would you crush? How many lives will you destroy in pursuit of what you call justice? You are the product of everything you fear; violence, darkness, helplessness...All that remains is for you to watch as I drag your beloved Gotham into oblivion."_

* * *

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Kaito lowers himself from the small window inside his cell, straightening his legs so that they touched the ground, before looking over his right shoulder to see the officer on the other side of the cell bars, almost rolling his eyes in silght annoyance as he spoke. "Oh, nothing, officer, just planning my grand escape from this fucking hellhole. Did you come with the saw I asked for earlier so I could get rid of these bars?"

Kaito couldn't help the slight smirk from appearing on his face as the officer narrowed his eyes, moving to grab something off his belt. "Ha ha, very funny, kid." The officer removes a small, wrapped package that Kaito hadn't seen earlier on his belt, shaking it a bit before before throwing it between the cell bars. "Someone came by and told us to give this to you. We already got it checked, so don't get your hopes up."

Kaito only watches as the officer throws the package onto the ground of his cell, not making a move to grab it just yet, instead waiting for the officer to leave. Yet the officer remained, staring at the purple haired man in what seemed to be fascination. "... You know, you seem a little bit too young to be robbing banks." The officer pauses for a second, and when Kaito doesn't reply, he continues. "Not to mention, you're kind of strange too. I mean, we didn't expect you to keep up the entire split personality gig once we took your mask away..."

This time, Kaito flinches, his one visible eye narrowing as he spoke, his voice returning to that gruff tone it usually seemed to have now. "Really, huh? Why don't you open this cell and say that to my fucking face? I'll skin you alive!"

The sigh the officer gives only seems to enrage Kaito even more, almost making him turn around fully as the officer mumbles "Whatever, kid..." before walking away.

The only thing that stops him is the warning he got before he was allowed back into the outside world. The words that left the mouth of the woman with the long blue hair sticks inside his mind, reminding him of the mask's purpose. He was two people now, Kaito Momota, luminary of the stars, and Kaito Momota, the kid that thought it was a good idea to sign up for a killing game just to kill others for cash, and the luminary of the stars should always remain hidden, or else it will bring any who sees him into despair. That was what his mask had been for. To keep the astronaut quiet while the genocide obsessed maniac worked for her, only when that part of him did what he was tasked could the ultimate astronaut finally live again.

He almost curses himself as he finally turns to grab the package on the ground, for he had almost forgotten what the blue haired woman had said. He had almost forgotten the most important factor to his freedom and rebirth.

And it was all that masked lunatic's fault, or, as the press called him, Monokuman.

The blue haired woman had warned him about the masked vigilante, yet he had not listened to her warnings, as he didn't expect to meet the masked man so soon. Now, though, one part of him wished to kill the masked man with his own hands. The ultimate astronaut, though, is not so sure.

He sits down on the cold cell floor as he attempted to stop thinking about Monokuman, as thinking about the masked man only seemed to make his head hurt, instead forcing himself to focus on the package he got. It's a small, almost box shaped object that fits in the palm of his hand, the entire thing covered with some sort of birthday themed wrapping paper. He ignores the childish wrapping paper, and quickly rips it apart to reveal what it was concealing.

He's surprised as the object underneath the paper actually grows just a bit once it's visible, now just a bit bigger than both of his hands. He examines it, quickly deducing that the object was a gas mask that could cover his entire face, with a piece of paper taped to the front of it. He removes the paper, narrowing his eyes as he read the sloppy hand writing.

_Put this on, or you may be overcome with a giggle fit~ See you soon, my beloved Kaito! ;)_

Kaito stared down at the paper, at first not able to comprehend what was written on it. He may be overcome with a giggle fit? What did that even mean? Who even sent this package?

He's snapped out of his thoughts once he hears the familiar voice of the guard he spoke to earlier starting to snicker just a bit, followed by full blown, almost painful sounding, laughter. Soon, the other inmates to his right seemed to fall into a similar trance, and it finally clicks inside the former astronaut's mind. A scowl grows on Kaito's face once he realizes that one of the people he despises most was here, and that they sent the mask, yet he puts on the gas mask anyway, not wanting to fall into the same fate as the laughing inmates and guards.

A few seconds after he puts on the mask, he finally sees the familiar sight of the green tinted laughing gas. He holds his breath as it enters his cell, even if he knew the gas mask would protect him, watching as it now spread towards the left side of his cell. It only takes a few minutes for everyone around him to be placed into fits of laughter, and it's not until then when the source of the gas finally appears.

He first hears the young man's giggles, the bag filled with the laughing gas grenades hitting against the concrete wall as he moved, causing a dull ring to occasionally slice through the laughter. It's when Kaito finally sees the much shorter man does he finally seem to breath again, although his eyes narrow behind the mask. "... I should have known that even prison wouldn't stop you from coming to just annoy me, Kokichi..."

Ouma's smile seems to grow wider under his checkered bandanna at Kaito's words, while his eyes narrowed at the same time. "I'm not Kokichi, just Joker. Always have, always will be, you two faced scum." A hiss leaked into the shorter boy's words, taking Kaito aback, unable to think of a proper reply as Ouma, no, the Joker held up a key ring. "Besides, that isn't the way you should talk to the person who's about to save you~"

Kaito simply watches in stunned silence as Ouma grabbed one of the keys, fitting it into his cell's lock and, somehow, unlocking it on the first try. From sheer luck, or if the Joker somehow knew which key to use, he couldn't tell, yet he didn't question it. Instead, he quickly leaves his cell, making sure to keep a small distance from the Joker as he finally spoke up. "... She sent you, right? You know that Monokuman is going to come and try to stop us..."

At first, the Joker doesn't reply, digging into the bag at his side, taking out another laughing gas grenade with one hand as he used the other to move his bandanna, revealing his wide grin. "Oh, I doubt it. I got someone else to cause some trouble far away from here. He'll have to choose between some poor, innocent saps, or us." A laugh left the shorter man's mouth as he took the pin out of the laughing gas grenade, throwing it down to the level below them before turning to Kaito once again. "Let's see what's more important to him. Being a big dumb brute and stopping us, or being a hero and saving the innocent."

For once in his life, Shuichi wished that he was actually in a cave than where he was now.

Well, he wished he was anywhere else but the Team Danganronpa headquarters, sitting inside one of the many conference rooms teeming with reporters asking about the next killing game. Yet, as Maki had told him last night, he wasn't just a masked vigilante called "Monokuman", he was Shuichi Saihara, one of the survivors of the 53rd killing game, and he had to keep up appearances. Vanishing off the face of the Earth was going to cause some suspicion to come his way, and it was probably unhealthy to stay in a dark cave for extended periods of time while wearing what could be a suit of bullet proof armor that hadn't been properly cleaned in days.

Still, that didn't mean that he had to enjoy this press conference. Hell, he barely knew anything about the next killing game Team Danganronpa was planning, no matter how much digging he did into the files he had obtained from Team Danganronpa shortly after he woke from his coma. No one was asking him any questions either, so he's barely said anything in the past half hour. He's spent more time picking the lint off his suit and making sure the backpack he brought was hidden well under the table, as well as quietly laughing at the choice words Himiko mumbled under her breath whenever the Team Danganronpa directors spoke, than actually talking and answering questions.

Speaking of the directors and executives, Tsumugi wasn't among them, and neither was Kiibo. He had expected at least one of them there, considering how they were both prominent figures in the killing game. Then again, Kiibo was a robot, so maybe he wasn't human in the real world as well? Making his appearance both unneeded and unwanted? Tsumugi had also died inside the virtual reality, so it could cause some questions to arise if she had made an appearance, like where the other dead students were, and if they were still alive...

He frowned just a bit as the other people that had died inside the killing game crossed his mind, taking his phone out to check to see if one of his said formerly dead classmates had texted him in the last five minutes he hadn't checked his phone.

He couldn't help but sigh in relief once he saw that he got no text. He had felt guilty over leaving Kaede behind in the cave on her own, yet she had reassured them that she would be fine, and that she would listen to the police radio in case something happened while they were gone. While Shuichi did feel a bit reassured by Kaede's words, there was a small, almost paranoid part of him that just didn't trust what Kaede said, and he didn't know where it came from. Was it because of the events in the killing game? Or is it because he was afraid that she was only pretending to be snapped out of Team Danganronpa's brainwashing? He knew she could still fight, he had seen Kaede try and teach Himiko how to fight on the few nights he was in the cave, so what's to say that she wasn't following Team Danganronpa?

He's snapped out of his thoughts as he feels a sharp jab of pain in his ribs, having to hold back a small scream in pain as he covered his side with one hand, glaring up at the person who elbowed him as he scowled. His scowl disappears as Maki's sharp red eyes meet his, glaring down at his phone before she points towards the reporters as she nearly hisses. "Pay attention, someone just asked you a question."

It took him a few seconds to finally turn towards the reporters, pocketing his phone as he continued to rub a hand against his already bruised side, a sheepish smile taking over his face as he spoke. "U-Uh... I'm sorry, but could whoever spoke repeat the question?"

A blond reporter in the front row raises her hand, her bright red nails flashing in the light. "People have been wondering where you've been since season 53 of Danganronpa ended. Do you care to share what your life has been like since the game ended? Have you visited any family members?"

 _(I've been training to become a masked vigilante to fight the hellish company that's turned my friends into lunatics. And no, I can't face any of my family without nearly bursting into tears at this point.)_

Shuichi gives a nervous laugh, scratching his chin as he looked away in slight embarrassment. "Oh, it's not that exciting, and I haven't really talked to any of my family recently... I've just been living with Himiko for the past six months. Right, Himiko?"

The red head next to him doesn't have the chance to respond as another reporter in the crowd raises his hand. "You seemed to oppose the killing game in the last episode of season 53, causing many fans of the show to change their minds about Danganronpa. What are your thoughts on the killing games now?"

_(I would rather die than admit that I actually condone them.)_

This time, it takes Shuichi a little bit longer to respond, leaning back in his chair a bit as he crossed his arms, shutting his eyes in thought before speaking. "... At the time, I was recovering from the shock of finding out that everything had been a lie. Now that my emotions are not all over the place anymore, and I've had the chance to think, I don't think they are as bad as I previously thought they were."

A hum echoes around the crowd in front of him, some of them writing inside their notebooks, while others whispered to the people next to them. Whether it was a good or bad thing, Shuichi had yet to tell, yet he also didn't have enough time to think about it as another person in the crowd raised their hand. "... Excuse me, may I ask a somewhat personal question?"

Shuichi sat up straight in his chair, having to lean forward a bit to see the man who just spoke. The bright light made it hard to see the reporter, the only thing Shuichi could make out was the man's long black hair. He didn't think about that, though, instead, he thought about what the man just said. What kind of question was that? Wasn't the purpose of this entire conference to find out every detail of the survivor's lives since the game? Something about that voice was familiar, as well. "... Depends on the question."

"What are you afraid of, Shuichi Saihara?"

At first, Shuichi was too taken aback by the man's question, not noticing how Himiko was tugging on his sleeve until she, too, lightly punched his side. Once again, he flinched, glaring down at the fake magician, opening his mouth to ask her what's wrong until he sees the panicked look on her face, freezing up completely at the next words that come out of her mouth quietly. "Sh-Shuichi... I-I think that's Korekiyo-"

"Holy shit, he's got a gun!"

At first, time seems frozen for everyone, the air inside the room seeming sucked in all at once, leaving only silence to suffocate the occupants.

The silence is broken the second a gunshot rings across the room, and Shuichi barely catches the hypodermic needle shooting across the room before Maki pulls him to the ground, the needle grazing his hair just a bit before embedding itself into the wall behind him. Shuichi isn't even able to collect his thoughts until Maki has dragged him under the table, hiding him from sight behind the tablecloth, yet even then, the screams suddenly echoing around the room pound against his head mercilessly. 

His head begins to hurt a bit as Himiko finally follows them under the table mere seconds later, thankfully unharmed, physically at least. Mentally speaking, she looked on the verge of some sort of panic attack, shaking so badly that Shuichi had to gently steady her by holding her shoulder. Her face and body seemed taut, as if she was preparing herself for something that only she knew would come, flinching whenever a loud noise echoed throughout the room. "...He's here..."

The icy look Maki sends to Himiko doesn't seem to phase the red head at all, lowering her own voice to Himiko's level, barely audible through the yelling around them. "Who's here? Himiko, what's going on?"

Slowly, Shuichi reaches for his backpack as Himiko remains silent, taking out anything inside his pockets and placing them into any pocket in the bag before continuing his search, not even looking up to face Maki as he gave the fake assassin her answer. "Korekiyo."

He doesn't catch the way the fake assassin's harsh expression nearly drops as he finally finds what he's looking for, looking it over before sighing in relief. Thank god, he hadn't forgotten anything in the cave. He sets the object back down, before scrambling to take off his suit jacket, now facing both of the people in front of him as he spoke through gritted teeth. "Can one of you please grab the needle a few seconds after I distract Korekiyo? We need to look over what was inside it before he uses it again."

For a second, both girl's are fazed by Shuichi's sudden idea, and who could blame them? Shuichi Saihara was the weak detective that nearly died whenever he did daily training during the killing game, yet it quickly vanishes once they remember the other somewhat violent side of him.

One of them isn't convinced, though.

"... Shuichi..." Himiko's voice is still quiet, yet it still somehow cuts through the screams around them, making the young man freeze as he placed his suit jacket inside his backpack. Slowly, he turns to face the read head, and even if Shuichi couldn't see Himiko's face that well in the darkness, he could clearly hear the sadness evident in it. "... Don't go, what if you get killed? Like..."

_(Like Angie and Tenko did, both of them with wide blood red smiles across their necks. Hey, both of their smiles kind of matched Korekiyo's, didn't they?)_

He's dragged out of his thoughts at the sound of an ear piercing scream, causing everyone under the table to flinch. Shuichi peeks out from behind the tablecloth, the sudden light almost blinding him, forcing him to shut his eyes for a few seconds more. When he opens them again, he sees the blond reporter that had questioned him earlier with a needle inside her back, screaming in fear as she attacked her cameraman with a pen. His eyes widened as the pen dug into the man's shoulder before digging her nails into his face, causing the man to scream in pain, as if he was being tortured, causing Shuichi to retreat back under the table to collect himself. He took a deep breath as he stared at the dark tablecloth, his hands clenched into fists, before he turned to face Himiko once again, forcing his voice to be even. "... I'm sorry Himiko, but I have to. People are getting hurt, and if I don't step in soon, someone's going to die..."

At first, Shuichi doesn't think Himiko will respond, until she slowly nods her head, a reluctant sigh leaving her mouth. "... Alright... Just, promise me you'll be careful out there..."

The raven haired boy smiled as he placed a hand on her shoulder, yet it almost vanished once he felt that the fake magician's shaking seemed worse. He sent a worried glance to Maki, yet she only stared back in return, prompting Shuichi to face Himiko once again, his smile wavering a bit but ultimately staying. "... I promise".

Shuichi doesn't give the red head a chance to respond this time, instead quickly putting on his backpack, taking a deep breath before rolling out from under the tablecloth, his eyes screwed shut at first. He tried to recall the floor plan in the few seconds of time he had. To his right was the door leading to the stairs, and to the left was a hallway that led to some rooms which he had yet to figure out their purpose.

He decides to go left, listening for anyone that might get in his way. He only needed to get into his costume, and the stairs seemed like the last place he should go for privacy.

"Ah, there you are, Shuichi..."

Shuichi's eyes snap open at the sound of Korekiyo's voice, ignoring the stinging pain as his head whipped around to see his formally dead classmate behind him. Now that the light wasn't so blinding though, and he could finally make out the other's face, he almost gasped in shock.

Most of Korekiyo's outfit was normal, just a simple tux suit and pants with sharp black shoes, yet anything above his neck was horrendous. His long black hair was a mess, hiding some of his face from sight, yet glowing orange lights shined where his eyes were supposed to be, and his entire face almost seemed like a sewing project abandoned halfway through. The only similarity between the Korekiyo he had met at in the killing game and the one he saw now were the red lips twisted into a devious grin.

Needless to say, the other's sudden appearance somehow made Shuichi run faster than he already was.

"Where are you going, Shuichi..?"

He pushes a man out of his way before he can be stabbed by their microphone.

"I'm not going to hurt you..."

His vision is now the clearest it's been since he was under the table, and he can finally see the wooden door he had seen before when the interview started.

"Don't run... I just want to see what you fear..."

A gunshot rings across the room once again, yet Shuichi manages to roll forward and out of its way at the last minute, getting back on his feet so quickly that it fazes the patchwork man behind him, allowing Shuichi to finally make it to the wooden door. He opens it quickly, before nearly slamming it shut behind him, holding it closed with his own body for a few precious seconds of peace as he caught his breath, his eyes darting across the dimly lit hallway, only to realize that he had actually never been down this hallway before.

Now that he thought about it, he was sure that he hadn't seen anyone enter this doorway the entire time he was here.

He's snapped out of his thoughts as something slams into the door, barely causing Shuichi to move. The boy glanced down at the doorknob and, upon seeing that he actually needed a key to lock it, sighed in frustration, shifting his bag a bit so he could reach inside it. It took him only a few seconds to find what he was looking for, a tactical glove from his costume, placing it onto his slightly bruised fist, his back still against the door as he did this.

"You can't hide forever, Shuichi, I know you're in there..."

Shuichi ignores Korekiyo's voice, holding his breath for the other man to stop pushing on the door so he could finally get his back off it.

A few seconds after Korekiyo's words, the weight Shuichi feels on the door is lifted, only for a second, yet it's more than enough time than he needs. He removes his back from the door, pivoting himself so that he now faced said door, before raising and then quickly lowering his gloved fist on the doorknob. He bites his lip to keep himself from yelling in pain, ignoring how his bruised knuckle throbbed as he punched the doorknob once again until it was bent inside the door, keeping itself from ever opening again.

Shuichi shakes his hand as he turns back around, looking back and forth down the darkened hallway, ignoring Korekiyo's muffled curses behind the door. He's mildly surprised once he notices that there isn't any security cameras in sight. He reaches into his backpack with his gloved hand, taking out his mask, placing it on his head in one swift motion. He lowered the visor over his left eye, and half of his vision was tinted red, yet he could now at least see in the darkness.

There are three doors in front of him, two on the right, and one on the left. He looks through the closest door, his body tense in case there was anyone inside that he needed to hide from, only to relax once he saw that no one was inside. Quietly, he walks into the room, looking around the tables decorated with dozens of computers. He grabs another glove out of his backpack, placing it on his other hand before going towards one of the many computers. He takes off his mask as he starts up the computer, surprised that no passwords were protecting it, as well as the amount of files littering the screen with the Team Danganronpa logo as the background.

There's too many for him to look over now, yet two files catch his eyes. One said "Living AI Experiment", the other saying "Bullseye Targets". He clicks on the "Living AI Experiment" document first, and his vision is assaulted with thousands of words at once dancing across the screen. He groans once he realizes he won't be able to read all of this in the few precious minutes he has, and gets out of the doc, opening up the "Bullseye Targets" document next. This time, there isn't much on the document, only a list.

His eyes widen a bit once he sees that his name, as well as Himiko's, is on it.

He looks away from the computer to grab something else out of his bag, withdrawing the belt he usually wore as he fought crime. He opens one of the pockets on it, taking a small USB drive out of said pocket, before attaching it to the computer. He would have to grab it once he was done fighting Korekiyo. As he moves to put the belt back inside, his phone catches his eye, its bright screen standing out in the darkness of his backpack. He takes it out of his backpack as he stood, walking out of the room as he read over the text he received.

He freezes up once he sees that it's from Kaede.

_Kaede: The police radio went off a few minutes ago with an officer saying that there's a breakout going on at Silverhold prison, before he burst into laughter and was then shot. I think it's Ouma's doing._

Shuichi reads over the text again, before shutting his eyes tight, as if to will the words he saw away. When he opens them again, though, they remain, and Shuichi's face twists into a look of dread, because Shuichi knows for a fact that Kaito was being held in Silverhold, and it wasn't a stretch to guess why Ouma was there.

_(Ouma's trying to break him out, probably under Team Danganronpa's orders. I need to stop him.)_

Before he can text back, though, the memory of the woman assaulting her cameraman flashes before his eyes, almost making him drop his phone.

_(... I can't leave...)_

His hands are shaking as he stares down at his phone, trying to decide what to do, his thoughts racing so fast that he couldn't even analyze them properly.

He reaches his decision as he hears a high pitched scream breach through the doorway, tearing through his ears and into his mind, with Korekiyo's dark laughter following it. "Ah, even if Shuichi got away, this can work... I've been wanting to see you again, Himiko..."

Shuichi's already moving without realizing it, moving farther into the hallway as he texted back on his phone.

_Shuichi: Korekiyo's here. He has Himiko, he might kill her if I don't step in._

He pockets his phone before he can get a reply, lowering his mask over his face once again before looking into the other two rooms. The first one is another office room, with nothing inside but a desk and a printer, and the other is a supply closet with a vent overhead, a power box decorating the left wall. Without thinking twice, he hops inside the supply closet, forcing himself to gently close the door behind him before taking off his backpack once again.

Before the conference had started, he was told by one of the Danganronpa Executives there that today would change everything. Depending on what the public saw and heard, they would either support Danganronpa now more than ever, or lose more fans than it already had.

So far, what the public had seen was Shuichi Saihara, the young man who had suggested that the killing games were morally incorrect, yet now seemed to start siding with Team Danganronpa in some cases. Shuichi Saihara, who had allowed the killing games to continue and watched as someone else condemned herself to another one.

Now, it was time for Shuichi Saihara to leave, and for Monokuman to take center stage.

###### 

Scarecrow didn't like to brag, if anything, he abhorred it, yet if there was a few things he prided himself on, it was his nearly photographic memory, and his own enjoyment for witnessing humanity in such... Interesting situations.

Oh, how he had wished that one of Team Danganronpa's employees had somehow recorded his revival, how he wished to see himself scrape his nails against the lid of his glass coffin until they bled, or see how he screamed in pain because he could feel his face melting and dripping onto the floor like wax, leaving behind nothing but muscles and bone. Even now, he didn't know why it did that, or how he even got there. All that he knew that Team Danganronpa didn't tell him was that he had to satisfy his sister, he had to bring her back, and Team Danganronpa could do that. They brought him back from the dead, or so the blue haired person had said, so why couldn't they do the same for sister?

He just had to do a few things for them, which was quite simple really. Take out either Himiko Yumeno or Shuichi Saihara in a few weeks from now, and his sister would be back. He didn't know who either of them were until Team Danganronpa showed him pictures of them, yet even then, he drew a complete blank.

It was quite fascinating, to say the least. New people meant more chances for him to see different sides of humanity, even if it meant that he had to get rid of them eventually. The woman with the blue hair, as well as Team Danganronpa, didn't exactly say how they wanted them taken out, only that he had to be careful of someone named "Monokuman", and that they just wanted them dead, allowing Scarecrow to do whatever he wanted to prepare.

And oh, did it take quite awhile for him to do so. He spoke with that stupid clown that stayed with Team Danganronpa, who showed him the laughing gas someone named Miu had created for him.

"She's pretty smart, well, for a pig." The clown burst into laughter, pocketing the laughing gas grenade in his gloved hand before turning back to Scarecrow, his short stature having him look up to see Scarecrow's eyes. "Still, if you want something, you should talk to her, but you have to get someone from around here to approve it first. Apparently, she's not a very cooperative person..." 

It took awhile for him to find the person who was watching over Miu in front of her room to, and he quoted, "make sure she didn't try anything funny." It was another masked person, who had two glowing red dots decorating the black dome of a mask. They had agreed to letting Scarecrow see Miu, knocking on the door behind them so hard it nearly slammed open before calling out the young woman's name, telling her that she had a visitor.

Miu had eventually opened the door, her eyes widening once she had seen him, moving to shut the door before the masked person stuck their boot in the door, saying that she had to cooperate, or "you know who" would be shut down and killed.

Slowly, the door opened again, with Miu now allowing Scarecrow inside. 

Both of them had stayed up for many nights developing a chemical weapon and something to dispense it easily and efficiently, with her yelling at him multiple times in frustration and exhaustion while he sat there in slight annoyance, yet in the end, it was worth it, because he now had the perfect weapon. A fear toxin that allowed whoever it was used on to see their greatest fears once it was inserted into their bloodstream, as well as a gun that could be used to shoot syringes holding the toxin.

It couldn't kill anyone, of course, yet it allowed Korekiyo to witness something beautiful. It allowed him to see how humanity reacted to their greatest fears.

Some could handle it, fighting back against their invisible demons before becoming a crying mess on the floor, digging into their skin or flinching away from touch.

Others couldn't, killing themselves before the toxin could really take hold. Those people were what he deemed disappointing. Anti-climatic even.

Now, with Himiko Yumeno in front of him curled into a ball and staring up at him in fear while the young woman that was defending her before distracted by the people under the influence of his toxin, he wondered whether she would either be disappointing, or truly a sight to behold.

Then it goes dark.

Scarecrow simply stands in the darkness, allowing his glowing orange eyes to illuminate what's in front of him. Himiko remains on the floor, shivering in the darkness, while the others around him continue screaming in fear. He stands perfectly still for a few seconds, waiting patiently for the lights to turn back on.

They never do.

He flinches as a loud thud echos across the room, yet he doesn't turn around, even as the screams get louder, his eyes focusing on the red head in front of him. He simply assumes that the woman from before had finally been overtaken by the toxin induced reporters.

Scarecrow finally turns around once the screams finally stop.

His only sees the masked man for a second before he darts away, but oh, what a sight! The other's red eye glowed under the orange light before he vanished into the darkness, dropping the unconscious person in his hand. Was that the man Team Danganronpa had spoken of before? This was going to make things a lot more interesting...

Scarecrow turns around to face Himiko once again, who was quietly crawling away from him. He reaches down, easily picking Himiko up off the ground, keeping one arm around her small, struggling frame while he held the gun holding the syringes full of fear toxin to her side. "... I know you're still there, little bear..." He feels Himiko freeze up in his grip, yet he only ignores her for now, backing up towards the wall so the masked man wouldn't get him from behind. "Come out from hiding, little bear..."

Silence reigns inside the room for a few minutes, and right when he pulls the trigger to the gun, something crashes to his left. His arm jerks forward, missing its target completely, before he turns to the left. Once his orange eyes illuminate the darkness, and he sees nothing but the pieces to a broken camera on the ground, he scowls, aiming the gun towards Himiko's side once again. "What a tricky bear..." Another crash resounds to his right, yet when he turns to see what caused the noise this time, something slams into his left side, causing him to drop Himiko to the ground.

He stumbles a few feet away, clutching at his side with his now free hand as he aimed his gun. He looks up to see the masked man holding Himiko in his arms, before he seemingly explodes into pink smoke. He fires off a few shots into the smoke, hoping to hit his target, before he hears the click of the gun. Empty. He reaches into the pocket on his jacket, taking out the package holding the other syringes he had as the smoke clears, revealing that the masked man was long gone.

For once since the Scarecrow awakened, his was beyond annoyed, he was enraged, frustrated even. This was starting to get ridiculous to the point that this was childish. Once the gun was reloaded, he finally walked away from the wall, his glowing orange eyes illuminating wherever he looked. "... Where are you, little bear..?"

"... Right here."

The Scarecrow almost jumped in surprise, beginning to turn to look where the voice came from before he feels a cold hand wrap around his throat, while the other snatched the gun out of his already loose hand. Something akin to a croak left his throat as he was forced to turn and look behind him, his glowing eyes widening once he saw the masked man's face.

The mask they wore almost seemed darker in the orange light, while their gray eyes seemed sharper in the light, one of them hidden by a red screen of sorts. The lower half of their face was the only thing visible, their pale complexion almost seeming worse in the light. "... Who are you working for?"

The Scarecrow couldn't help but shiver a bit at the man's deep, almost booming words, yet he still manages to get some words out of his mouth, shaky and uneven, yet still intelligible. "Sister... I work for no one but sister..."

The masked man narrows his eyes a bit before Scarecrow feels the cold leather tighten around his neck, choking him a bit. "The living don't work for the dead. Now, answer my question, or else you'll join your sister very soon..." 

As the leather slowly loosens from around his throat, the woman with the blue hair flashes through his mind, reminding him of his new purpose. Whoever he was before didn't matter, all that mattered was his sister, nothing else. What was her name? Oh, it was on the tip of his tongue... Wait, now he remembered, it was...

"... The Director..."

This time, the masked man's eyes widened, his grip on Scarecrow's neck loosening. "Who the hell is The Director-?"

He's interrupted as a flash blinds Scarecrow's vision, yet the grip around his neck doesn't loosen, but only tighten. It takes a few seconds for his vision to finally clear, the spots vanishing only to see pink smoke clouding his vision. It's all he can see until a black blob slams into his face once, twice, he's unconscious before he's hit the third time.

###### 

"Shuichi, are you okay..?"

Shuichi flinches at the sudden voice, his vision jerking away from the laptop screen in front of him towards Kaede. He stares at the armored woman for a second, the two red dots on her mask the only thing he can see for a few seconds, before he shakes his head a bit, a small sigh leaving his mouth, before turning back to the computer. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine, just... Thinking."

"... About Kaito?"

Once again, Shuichi flinches, yet this time, it's more so due to pain than shock, like he was violently hit. He knew he should have been there, he should have tried to stop Kaito and Ouma, yet in the end, both had gotten away before he was even done taking care of Korekiyo... Kaede had even tried heading over to the prison to stop Kaito and Ouma, but it was too late, both of them were already gone. Neither Maki or Himiko knew, both of them at the hospital after the officers came to the conference room, while Shuichi, as himself, was able to convinced a few paramedics that he was fine, allowing him to head back to the cave.

"A-Ah, no, not right now... But I haven't thanked you for trying to stop them yet, have I?"

Kaede shakes her head quickly, moving so that she was now behind Shuichi's desk and able to see what he was working on before. "There's no need to thank me, really..." The red dots on her mask narrow once she sees the list of names on his laptop, before they widened just a bit. "... What is this? Why is your name on it?"

Shuichi turns to look back at his laptop, staring at the list of names before turning to another laptop on his desk, pointing to one of the articles on it. "I've only looked up a few names so far, but they're all the same. Each one of them was someone who didn't support Team Danganronpa, and each one was killed. Nothing has been revealed through the newspapers so far, but from what the document's name was, I could guess what the name of the killer was..."

"... Bullseye?"

Shuichi nodded his head, sighing as he moved to minimize the document on his laptop, ignoring how his suit's sleeves scrapped against the desk. "Yep, but I haven't seen anything about him after looking him up. I'll have to find some way to get my hands on the police documents on the murders..."

He brings up the other document that had caught his attention while hiding from Korekiyo, only to hear Kaede gasp behind him, the hiss of the mask unlocking around her face and then coming off ringing around the cave as he turned to face her. He suddenly stops as Kaede leans forward beside him, scrolling down the document before Shuichi was able to stop her. He's about to open his mouth and say something when she suddenly stops, clicking on a link on the doc, and a video plays.

_"... Interview for Volunteer Number 14 of the Living AI Experiment is about to begin. Can the volunteer please state their name for the record?"_

Shuichi slowly turns back to the laptop, the video taking up the entire screen, showing nothing but a boy sitting behind a desk, his silver hair and somewhat pale skin standing out in the darkness, the dark circles and thin cheek bones sticking out on his face. _"... My name..."_ The boy on the screen swallowed, glancing off to the side anxiously, towards what, neither of them could see, before he continued speaking. _"... Is Kiibo Idabashi."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> decided to put a little quote at the start of each chapter of this fic from now on to give a sneak peak at who's appearing. whether or not it's from the batman or danganronpa series, i won't say, but it's probably obvious where this one comes from lmao. I'll probably add one to the first chapter sometime soon, but not right now. Anyway, thanks for reading everyone, feedback is welcomed and appreciated. Have a nice morning/afternoon/evening everyone!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAHHH HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE
> 
> let's look forward to an awesome 2018, alright? And here to start off my writing projects for 2018 is another chapter of this fic. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> disclaimer, i own nothing. dont sue me, please.

_"The way the world works is that those who speak, win. The truth can easily be twisted. In order to fix a twisted truth, you need something even more powerful."_

###### 

The sound of heavy, almost erratic footsteps echo as they slam into the sidewalk, the source of them unseen in the darkness of the night until it, or rather, they, stumbled into view.

Agano Tojo, usually a calm and composed boat salesman, seemed far from his usual self. His blond hair was beyond tangled, his suit and tie crooked with beer stains littering his pant's leg. The only clean thing about him was the button he wore, which showed the Team Danganronpa logo with a slash through it. He didn't seem to care about his awful appearance at all, though, laughing in a drunken daze as he stumbled down the street, blinking in a haze every time he walked under a street lamp.

This seemed to happen a lot more often than it should, even Agano would admit that. Ever since his daughter had signed up for season 53 of that... Inane show, everything about him was falling apart. At least when his wife had died, he had his daughter by his side, yet now, he had to watch his daughter die a cruel and miserable death alone. He could practically feel the thorns on those vines dig into her gloved hands as she climbed, unable to do anything as he watched the saws dig into her.

At least he could pretend that the girl on the screen wasn't his daughter, her somewhat cold and refined personality a far cry from her usual warm and energetic self.

Pretending doesn't fill the space she left behind in their home though, so he decides to fill it with the only way he knew. With booze and long, silent nights alone. 

This was a rare night for him, he usually kept his fridge stocked with booze. Yet tonight, there seemed to be a lot less than last he had checked, so he was forced to go to the bar a couple blocks away for the night. And with no one to drive him home and no one seeming to care about his well-being, he was forced to walk back home in his drunken state.

Agano doesn't seem to mind though, only stopping a few times to lean against a building until his eyes refocused. The streets and alleys he walked by strangely absent of people, leaving the night air calm and quiet.

It was for this calmness that when a piercing scream cut through it, Agano nearly screamed in response, instead stumbling away from the alley he heard it come from, grunting as his back slammed into a street lamp.

Quickly, Agano crawls to the edge of the alley, peeking around the corner to get a glance inside.

The alley isn't that different from the sidewalk, except it was absent of street lamps, the few light-bulbs attached to the decrepit walls barely illuminating the alleyway. Even in his drunken haze and lack of light, though, Agano would have to be a total and complete idiot to not notice the person laying down in the alleyway, illuminated by one of the few light-bulbs there.

Agano blinks slowly, as if the body will vanish once he looked away.

After a few blinks, and the body remains illuminated and unmoving, Agano finally crawls a bit into the alleyway. "... H... H-Hey... You o-okay..?" He gulps for air, feeling the alcohol he had drank earlier coming back to make a second appearance before he forces himself to swallow it along with each breath.

Once he feels like he isn't about to puke, he forces himself onto wobbly feet, ignoring the new stains from the puddles below him that now adorned his suit as he stumbled into the alleyway, using the wall for support. 

Halfway into the alleyway, he finally notices the large, red pool of blood growing around the body, his eyes widening before he forces his pace to pick up. It takes him a few seconds later to get to the body, falling to his knees as he looked them over. 

The red liquid stains their plain white t-shirt and jeans, their blond hair now dyed red. Agano, of course, didn't recognize them and had no idea whether or not they were okay until they gave a small moan in pain.

At first, Agano panicked, freezing up as his eyes somehow widened even more. He only moved once another moan came from the other, moving a bit in an attempt to roll onto their back.

Slowly, Agano lowered his hands, helping them by gently pushing them until they were onto their back.

Once Agano saw the other's face, he completely froze up once again, his eyes widening in shock as his mouth went agape.

He doesn't move as the person below him raises a shaky, gloved hand to his face, opening their mouth a few times to speak, yet it takes a few tries before words finally leave their mouth.

"... Found... You..."

Before Agano has the chance to question the other, or even reply, something cold and hard crashes into the back of his head. The last thing he hears before his vision goes dark is a dull crack ringing in his ears.

###### 

_(... The toxin Korekiyo was using seems to hold some violent side effects... Well, aside from the hallucinogenic properties it carries.)_

Shuichi turned off the computer showing the footage taken during Korekiyo's attack on the press conference, changing it to a copy of the medical records Maki and Himiko got their hands on while they were in the hospital as he raised the visor over his left eye.

_(Depending on how long some victims were exposed to the toxin, some suffered from brain damage... Others had some external wounds, but I'm guessing that's from them attacking each other, or from Maki when she tried to run away with Himiko...)_

As both of the other killing game survivors crossed his mind, he looked up from his computer towards the other workbench in the room where Maki sat. While she had no visible wounds, she stayed at the hospital for a little longer than Himiko did, and hasn't spoken that much since she was allowed out of it. If anything, Maki seemed to grow more distant, especially once he told her about what Kaede had told him, spending more time listening to the police radio in the cave than talking to anyone else.

Speaking of Kaede, turning a bit to the left allowed him to see what she was doing with Himiko. Both of them were on one of the mats he uses to occasionally train and spar with Maki, with Kaede wearing the Executioner armor as she tried to show Himiko how to punch with one of the many punching bags they had. 

"For now, don't worry about how much power you put into a hit." Kaede's voice held that robotic tinge due to the mask she wore, lightly tapping the punching bag besides her with a fist as she spoke. "There's no way around your small stature either, but you can use that to try and strike where it hurts."

"H-Hey! Who are you calling small?"

Even if Shuichi couldn't see the blond's face, he could tell that she was smiling, the red eyes on her mask somehow becoming a bit brighter. "You. Now, let's get to work."

Shuichi finally looks away once Himiko began to hit the punching bag, looking back towards the syringe on his workbench. It was the one Korekiyo had tried to shoot him with at the conference before everything went haywire, thankfully with the toxin still inside.

Besides the toxin, though, there was nothing that the syringe revealed about its user, or its creator. But from what Kaede had told him, Miu had created both the syringe and toxin, as well as the gun Korekiyo used to shoot the syringes.

_(If what Kaede says is true, and Miu is being forced to work for them, maybe she left some sort of clue behind in what she made..?)_

He picked up the now empty syringe with a gloved hand, lowering the visor on his mask over his left eye with his other hand as he thought.

_(Maybe she used something that can only be found in a specific place? Or maybe she used-?)_

"Shuichi"

Shuichi nearly jumped in surprise at the sudden voice behind him, almost dropping the syringe in his hand before his shock quickly vanished. Instead of moving the red visor over his eye, he lifted the mask he wore so that it no longer blocked his face, giving an uneasy smile as he turned. "H-Hey Maki, hear anything on the police radio?"

The fake assassin showed no reaction to Shuichi's shock, simply nodding her head as she ran a hand through her ponytail. "Yeah, a murder's popped up. The victim is one of the people on the list of Bullseye's targets."

For awhile, Shuichi doesn't respond, allowing Maki's words to slowly sink into his mind for a few minutes, before he sighed, running his hands down his face as sunk into his chair in shame. "... Which one?"

"Agano Tojo."

Shuichi physically flinched. While he didn't know how Agano Tojo was related to Kirumi, the fact remains that she had still lost someone related to her. He could only hope that she wasn't that close to him. 

It took a few minutes for Shuichi to finally remove his hands from his face, forcing himself to his feet as he spoke. "Alright, I guess I'll go check it out once the police are done investigating... Have you told Himiko or Kaede about this?"

Shuichi was surprised at how Maki suddenly seemed to tense up at Shuichi's question, biting her thumb's nail in silence as she looked off towards the other two, quietly watching Himiko as she hit the punching bag, Kaede not that far behind her. "... That's the thing. We can trust Himiko with this, but she can't really do anything, at least for now, and Kaede..."

"... What about Kaede?"

Maki went silent for a few more seconds once again, biting her nail so hard to the point Shuichi was worried that she would somehow break it, until she suddenly stopped, a frustrated sigh leaving her mouth as she lowered her hands. "Shuichi, I don't think it was a good idea to bring her here. She's clearly hiding something from us, and it might be only a matter of time before she..."

She eventually trailed off, but what Maki was implying was quite clear to the fake detective. 

_(It might be a matter of time before she betrays us.)_

At first, the raven haired boy didn't know how to respond. Of course, he was suspicious of Kaede, it was hard not to be, considering how her memories had been tampered with by Team Danganronpa to the point she became someone else entirely. Yet the lack of information she gave them could also be due to her scrambled memories. Shuichi was surprised that her memories relating to the killing game weren't tampered with that much.

Eventually, Shuichi shook his head, lowering his mask back over his face as he eyed the Monokuman costume draped onto his chair. "I don't think it's her fault, Maki. Besides, what do you expect me to do, just let her loose on the streets? It's better if we have her stay here, it makes it easier to watch over her and make sure she doesn't do anything wrong."

While Shuichi just added that last part of his reasoning for Maki's sake, the fake assassin seemed somewhat satisfied with his answer, or at least satisfied enough to drop the conversation, nodding her head as she ran a hand through her hair. "Alright... Alright, I can see what you're saying. But Shuichi, we can't do all of..." She gestures towards the entire cave with her free hand. "This with just us four."

Shuichi picked up the upper part of his costume, tapping the front of it to make sure the bulletproof armor wasn't that damaged as he gave Maki a confused look. "What exactly do you mean?"

"I mean that just the four of us can't take down a huge corporation like Team Danganronpa on our own. We need to get some help from someone, maybe from one of the people on Bullseye's hit list?" She looked away quickly once she saw Shuichi give her a disbelieving look. "You don't have to tell them who Monokuman is, I just think it's a good idea to have more connections..."

While what Maki was saying was one reason why Shuichi was in disbelief, there was also the fact that what Maki was saying was quite... Un-Maki. Even near the end of the killing game, Maki never really spoke like this. 

Whether it was a good or bad thing, Shuichi couldn't say, for now, though, she did have a point. It was hard to find out what Team Danganronpa was doing with what little information they had, and they were bound to get caught getting more information at some point. He had also been thinking about getting help from someone on the list of Bullseye targets for awhile now, and he had someone in mind who he knew he could trust. As for why he hasn't spoken to them yet, it was more of a personal matter.

Now, though, would be the perfect time to speak with them, given the murder and all.

Once again, Shuichi sighed, slowly nodding his head as he set the costume back onto the chair. "... You're right, I've known that for awhile. I have someone in mind, I'll go talk to them now."

Now it was Maki's turn to be surprised, yet it disappeared in a second as she faced Shuichi once again. "Really? Do you mind sharing who exactly you have in mind?"

He quickly shook his head, pointing down at the syringe he left on his desk as he spoke. "Not until I actually talk to them, sorry. But can you do me a favor and look this over while I'm gone?"

The glare Maki sends him would have probably killed his past self on the spot, yet it only made him shiver in slight fear now, almost feeling the sudden rage around her like an aura. Thankfully, though, it vanished, along with her anger, as she looked towards the syringe on his workbench. "... Alright, but don't expect me to find that much info on..." Her voice trailed off as she turned back to face Shuichi, only to see that he vanished, the Monokuman costume no longer draped across the chair. "... I shouldn't have taught him how to do that. It's starting to become a bad habit."

###### 

"Detective, you're here!"

Minoru scowls at the police officers saluting him as he walks by, waving them off as he nearly yelled. "Alright, alright, stand down. Get back to work!" He ignores the way the officers quickly walk away from him after his command, mumbling under his breath as he walks towards the entrance to the alleyway, ignoring how the puddles full of water seeped his shoes. "Why can't someone get killed in a nicer place? Like a spa? Or maybe even a casino? Just someplace that won't get my shoes soaked..."

He ducked under the yellow tape blocking off the alleyway's entrance easily in the darkness, almost like it was second nature to him, his hands making their way to his pockets as he walked towards the body surrounded by trash cans and debris. 

He withdrew a package of cigarettes as he stood over the body, the grotesque nature of the murder in front of him not bothering him at all as he withdrew his lighter, too used to seeing the disgusting ways one could die.

The victim's head was caved in, blood still seeping out of the wound and onto the ground below, his eyes and mouth wide in permanent shock. The cause of the wound, a steel ball, wasn't that far from the body, still stained red from the act.

Minoru lit a cigarette he withdrew from the pack with his own lighter before turning to the person next to him. Someone new in forensics? He couldn't recall who they were, yet he could somewhat recognize them from the few times he left his office. "So, what's the story so far?"

The other man quickly handed the clipboard in his hand over to Minoru, almost causing the detective to drop it, rattling off information before Minoru could even put the cigarette in his mouth. "The victim is Agano Tojo, a boat salesman and another person involved in the sudden anti Team Danganronpa movement. Cause of death was blunt force trauma. The murder occurred only a hour ago, the only witness we have, the person who reported the crime, isn't coming forth. We can assume that they're either the perpetrator, or are too terrified to testify. The victim was also intoxicated..."

The words the other man said eventually became white noise to Minoru as he looked down at the file, which had everything the other man was already saying. Thankfully, the white noise eventually ceased altogether, replaced by footsteps that slowly grew quieter, eventually leaving Minoru alone with the body. 

Team Danganronpa.

God, even hearing that company's name made him want to puke.

He glanced down at the body, his eyes finally catching the pin on the other man's suit lapel, covered in blood. With the file still in hand, Minoru bent down, wiping the blood off the pin to reveal the Team Danganronpa logo with a slash through it.

Suddenly, the pin in his own pocket with the same design suddenly felt warmer, like it would melt right through the fabric and into his skin. It felt like a target, practically screaming at whoever was the killer in this, as well as other murders before this, to kill him.

"It's a shame, isn't it?"

Minoru dropped his cigarette in shock at the sudden deep voice, nearly dropping the file as well as he quickly stood, turning around so fast that his long black hair almost slapped his face.

The light-bulb barely illuminated the newcomer sitting on the trash can behind him, only showing almost half of his body. What was visible barely revealed anything about the person in front of him, though, as they seemed to be wearing a white costume of sorts, a belt with a strange device on it wrapped around his waist. The only visible part of their body was some of the lower half of their face and one gray eye, which was narrowed in... Suspicion? Curiosity? Minoru couldn't tell.

Something about what the other was wearing seemed familiar, yet that train of thought quickly departed, replaced by fear and shock. "Wh-What do you mean? How the hell did you get here?"

The masked person doesn't say anything for a moment, looking Minoru up and down, before hopping off the trash can, somehow not making a sound as they moved. "I walked in, it's not that hard, given how there's no one guarding the entrance." Before Minoru could speak, the masked person suddenly stomped onto the ground with a black boot, crushing the cigarette Minoru had dropped before. "It's a shame that people in that one group are getting killed off. Now that this guy's dead, it's now only a matter of time before they go after you."

Minoru opens his mouth to ask what the other meant before quickly shutting it, biting his lip as he glared down at the victim, most notably towards the pin he wore.

He wouldn't call himself a detective if he didn't catch the obvious pattern in each victim for the "shot put murders". Each one of them had a victim who was actively against Team Danganronpa, and the murder weapon and cause of death was always the same. A metal ball smashing into the victim's skull, much like the first murder in season 53, which was the inspiration for the name of this certain string of cases.

While most people at the precinct thought it was quite clever, Minoru, personally, wanted to hunt down whoever thought it up and cave their skull in.

Instead of doing that and possibly getting arrested, Minoru settled on throwing everything he had into the case, sacrificing most, if not all of his day, to solve the case. He could already hear the comments from his coworkers about how he basically lived in his office now.

It's not like he had anyone at home to go to now, though. He had no wife to speak of, and the nephew he raised was...

No, he couldn't dwell on the mistakes he made in raising his nephew right now. He had to focus on what was in front of him, most notably, the masked person glaring up at him.

Minoru returned the masked person's glare with a scowl, digging into his pocket once again to grab another cigarette. "Really now, and how did you get to that conclusion kid?"

Silence stretches on in the small alleyway for what seems like hours, with the masked person continuing to glare up towards Minoru while the detective glared right back, although Minoru was now worried that he may have pushed the conversation too far somehow.

Eventually, though, the masked person steps forward, revealing the rest of their costumed. It was similar to the lighter half in every aspect except that it was pitch black, as well as in the place of their eye was some sort of red tint. Before Minoru can say anything, though, the masked person holds up a hand, revealing a flip phone. "This"

The other opens the phone so fast that Minoru barely catches the other move, yet instead of looking at the masked person, his eyes are drawn to what's on the phone's bright screen.

It's a list of names, and it takes him only a few seconds to realize that most of the names were victims of the shot put murders.

"This is... This is a fucking hit-list, isn't it..?"

The masked person doesn't give him an answer, yet he already knows that he's right. Somehow, someway, this person somehow managed to get their hands on the hit-list for whoever committed the shot put murders.

His name is on the list. He isn't fazed by that, this wouldn't be the first attempt on his life and surely wouldn't be the last.

A few names under his own name is his nephew's name.

This causes his blood to turn cold.

His mouth felt dry, unable to say anything as he stared at his nephew's name. His nephew had willingly signed up for that stupid killing game, shouldn't he be safe from whatever Team Danganronpa was planning?

Then again, his nephew seemed to be against the show in the last few episodes of it, as well as afterwards, so was it really a stretch to think that Team Danganronpa would want him gone as well?

He bit his lip as he mulled over his nephew, chewing the unlit cigarette in his hand in thought, ignoring the sharp taste of tobacco in his mouth. Was his nephew still under Team Danganronpa's influence? While Minoru was sure that his nephew was avoiding him, he wasn't sure whether it was because Minoru allowed him to sign up for that damn killing game behind his back, or that his nephew was still the same person in that interview tape.

Minoru bit through the cigarette so hard that it broke apart as he thought about the boy in that interview tape, who he was sure wasn't his nephew, no way in hell that he was. He may have failed at raising his nephew, but he knew what the kid was like.

He didn't bend down to pick up the broken cigarette once he finished mulling over his thoughts, his glare turning back towards the masked person as he hissed. "Alright, kid, you've made your point. Why the hell are you even showing me this?" He then looked the masked man up and down, chewing on the piece of cigarette in his mouth before spitting it towards the trash can to the side. "I don't even know who the hell you are."

The masked person stared at the piece of chewed up tobacco in obvious disgust, his mouth set into a tight frown. "... Because I need your help with... With what I'm trying to do."

"What the hell are you trying to..." Minoru's voice suddenly trailed off, his eyes widening a bit once he finally realized who the masked man was.

He had seen the only photo of them countless times in the newspaper, except it made the other look more like a shadow wrapped around the person called "Scarecrow" than an actual human being. The black and white sides similar to Team Danganronpa's mascot, the red covering the masked person's eyes shining in the camera's flash.

He also looked somewhat like the person dozens of criminals he's interviewed described, yet couldn't provide a name for. No, instead, the newspaper dubbed the masked man, no, the hero in front of him.

Even if he wore something similar to Team Danganronpa's mascot, he was the exact opposite of them. Instead of ending innocent lives, he saved them.

"Y-You're... Monokuman..."

"..." Suddenly, Minoru almost laughed as a small blush appeared on the masked man's face, the mask helping by obscuring some of it before the other man quickly turned away. "Y-Yeah..."

"Damn, kid, you're insane..! I mean, no normal person dresses up like some mascot while stopping crimes..!" Minoru, only now realizing that he called the other man crazy, laughed sheepishly, waving a hand off to the side, as if to wave away the words he just said. "Still, the help is... Appreciated, and you have been saving a lot of lives. So I guess we do owe you, in a sense..."

Monokuman mumbled something under his breath, placing the phone back onto his belt as he faced Minoru once again, the blush no longer on his face, instead replaced by a somewhat stoic look. "... I have an idea, then. Let's strike up... A partnership of sorts. You tell me about ongoing investigations and crimes, and I'll try my best to stop whatever is going on. Deal?" 

Minoru scoffed, reaching into his pocket to take out another cigarette. "Kid, you don't even have to ask. I was already trying to find someway to track you down..." Suddenly, Minoru froze up, as if he just remembered something, before he held up the clipboard in his other hand. "Here, I guess you're looking into the shot put murders, so you'll need this." Once Monokuman had the clipboard in hand, Minoru reached into his other pocket, taking out a small notebook. "You'll need this, too. Just remember to give it back once you're done."

"Detective Saihara!"

Minoru nearly jumped, actually dropping the notebook in his hand as he turned around to face the entrance to the crime scene, a scowl already appearing on his face. "What the hell is it?"

The officer behind the yellow tape seemed to shrink a bit at Minoru's words, inching towards one of the walls and out of sight as he replied. "Y-You've just been in there for awhile, sir, and some of us were getting worried..."

Minoru bit his lip, unable to cast a glance behind him to check if Monokuman was still there. He had heard from a few officers that Monokuman should be taken in for questioning, and if anyone found out that he gave him important evidence relating to the case, he'd have to hand in his badge. It sounded like the officer couldn't see the costumed man, though. Just in case, he'd have to scare the officer off, even if he didn't really want to yell at the other man, who was just doing his job. "... I'll take as much time as I want to when I'm investigating! You, on the other hand, should get back to work!" 

Once Minoru saw the officer quickly salute and run off, he let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding, turning around to face Monokuman as he mumbled. "Sorry about that, let me just..." He trailed off once he saw that Monokuman was gone, and a quick glance around also told him that his notebook wasn't on the ground either.

"..." Minoru gave an exasperated sigh as he reached into his pockets, taking out another cigarette and his lighter, finally able to light another cigarette. Once he was done, he placed it into his mouth as he looked up towards the roof of both buildings to his side, the only places Monokuman could escape too, before huffing out a thick cloud of smoke. "..." For once since he found out his nephew entered the killing game, the detective gave a sincere smile, a soft laugh leaving his mouth as he looked back down and began walking towards the alley's exit. "Good luck, kid, you'll need it..."

###### 

Shuichi made sure that he wasn't going to end up sitting on his cape as he sat down on the rooftop, taking a quick look around before opening the notebook the detective had given him.

It was hard to read it in the darkness, yet with the night vision provided by the red visor over his left eye, he managed to make out most of the choppily written words. Most of them were details about some of the previous victims, such as the murder weapon and the pattern between each victim. Shuichi of course knew about both, given how the crime scene had looked at the time and the list of Bullseye targets he had already. There was one thing on the notebook that told him something he didn't know before, though.

_(Large amounts of red food coloring was found at the scene, usually in or around the victim's own blood..?)_

Shuichi bit his lip, looking over the notebook details once again, trying to see if there was any explanation to be offered. He couldn't find anything, though, besides a lack of witness testimony, much to his frustration. The masked young man could only groan in annoyance as he closed the notebook, setting it off to the side before looking over the clipboard detailing Agano's murder.

_(Everything here is... The same as well. Killed by some sort of metal ball, victim was someone against Team Danganronpa as well... Except...)_

Shuichi couldn't help the confused look from appearing on his face once he read over that only one person actually phoned in the crime. From what he read about the other case files, each body was discovered in a public area, where multiple people would report the crime. Why change it just for Agano's sake?

_(I mean, an alleyway is a good place to murder someone without being seen, but all of the other murders took place in public areas, it just doesn't make sense to-)_

Shuichi's thoughts suddenly cut off as a dull ringing echoed across the rooftop, which was a sound he was quite familiar with out of costume. Quickly, before the ringing could go on for too long, he took his phone off his belt, answering the call without even looking at the caller ID, cursing under his breath about how he forgot to turn it off as he did. "Who is this? You know you're not supposed to call me-"

"Unless it's important, right?"

Shuichi immediately shut his mouth once he heard Maki's voice, his grip on the clipboard tightening just a bit before quickly loosening, forcing himself to relax as he took a deep breath. "... S-Sorry, Maki. I was just a bit startled. What's going on? Did you find anything?"

_(I kind of doubt she did... She's not unreliable or anything, it's just that she actually said that she doubted she would find anything about the syringe...)_

"Actually... Yeah, I did, although I did have a little help."

Shuichi, for a few seconds, seemed at a loss for words at Maki's words, before quickly pulling himself together, placing both the notebook and small clipboard onto his belt as he stood. "Really? What did you find out, then?"

"The syringe is made of a material found only in one type of chemical factory called Arcane Chemicals. They shut down a few years back, but with a name like that, I'm not surprised. Kaede says that it's one of the buildings Team Danganronpa had Miu stay in for a bit to work on a few projects before moving on."

The masked young man removed the phone from the side of his head for a second to glance at the time, already starting to move towards the edge of the roof as he moved the phone back to his ear. "I've still got a few hours left until sunrise. I'll go check it out."

"Alright, good luck Shuichi, be careful."

Once Shuichi heard Maki hand up, he shut his phone off, placing it onto his belt as he grabbed the grappling hook right next to it, taking a long, deep breath as he forced himself to relax. 

_(I've heard of this place a few times on the news, I know where it is... It'll take a half hour to get there, and half a hour to get back, assuming that I won't be bringing anything back...)_

Slowly, Shuichi raised the grappling hook so that it was aiming at a building across the street. Silence reigned over the rooftop until Shuichi pulled the trigger, a sound akin to a quiet gunshot ringing across the area as the grappling hook shot across the street, only to wedge itself onto a Team Danganronpa billboard on the opposite rooftop. 

_(Don't worry Miu, Kiibo, I'll rescue you guys, no matter what it takes..!)_

###### 

The first thing Shuichi notices once he looks through a window inside Arcane Chemicals was how empty it was.

There seemed to be a thin layer of dust over the window, and even then, it couldn't disguise the slight mess left behind by the chemical factory's employees. With boxes upturned and bits of plastic littering the ground, it seemed like no one had been inside it for years.

Still, Maki had said that Kaede claimed she was here with Miu before, so it wouldn't hurt to investigate. 

Quietly, Shuichi forced the window open, just in case someone was inside, only to still get a small cloud of dust in his face anyway. The masked young man tried his best not to cough, moving quickly so that he could escape the dust cloud as soon as he could, leaving the window open just in case he needed to suddenly escape.

His boots collided the ground with a dull thud, which seemed to echo around the empty factory, causing Shuichi to flinch. Still, the young man didn't attempt to hide as he walked around the factory, only careful not to step on any plastic as he moved.

_(Everything seems normal for an old chemical factory so far... Then again, I've never been inside a chemical factory before.)_

He ran a gloved hand on one of the tables, only to give an almost disgusted look once he saw the dust that made its way onto the glove, quickly wiping it off his cape before moving on.

_(God, Kirumi would throw a fit if she saw this place... Well, not really a fit, she'd probably just not be able to sleep until this place is cleaned up.)_

He repeated this process on the other tables, examining the objects on them before running his hand against the table to see if any dust remained there, just in case someone actually was there recently and just took the objects off the table afterwards.

He was just about to stop and actually look deeper into the factory until he realized that one table had almost no dust on it once he ran his hand against it, staring down at his hand in shock for a few seconds before looking down at the table.

It seemed like a normal table, littered in bits and pieces of plastic like all the others. Yet there were a few differences as well, now that he was looking closer. The table had a few scratch marks on it, as if a blade was rubbed against it multiple times. And there seemed to be some sort small black stain on the corner of it as well. Was it oil, perhaps?

Shuichi examined the tables around it, only to find that they were just like all of the other tables littered in dust, before returning to the table with the oil stain.

_(Well, this does show that someone was here recently... I can't say that it's Miu, but regardless, someone was here, and-)_

Shuichi's thoughts were, once again, cut off as he took a step back, freezing up as he stepped on a piece of plastic. A sharp crack echoed around the factory, causing the masked young man to stay completely still for a moment, trying his best to listen and see if anyone that could be inside the factory would walk towards the sound.

Sure enough, footsteps, heavy and fast, began to come towards his direction, prompting Shuichi to quickly hide. 

This time, he made sure not to step on any plastic as he moved towards one of the tables farther off, barely managing to roll underneath it when someone finally appeared.

Blond hair was the first thing he saw, bright in the little moonlight provided, the pink shirt and sweatpants they wore almost seeming dull compared to it. "F-Fucking hell, is that another damn rat? I thought that bitch wasn't lying when she said she got rid of them..."

Recognition flashed in Shuichi's eyes once he heard the other's vulgar words, having to stop himself at the last second so he wouldn't give a sigh in relief. It would be safe to reveal himself to them, at least for now, until the "bitch" that the other was referring to made an appearance.

Slowly, Shuichi stood up from under the table, careful that he didn't make a sound as he did. As he slowly made his way to the other, though, he was unfortunate enough to step on another piece of plastic, flinching as another dull crack rang across the factory.

Miu Iruma's hair nearly slaps herself in the face as she turns to Shuichi's direction, her eyes widening once she sees him in the moonlight. She's opening her mouth as Shuichi quickly runs over towards her, slapping a gloved hand over her mouth before she can say or do anything, ignoring the dull cracks as he stepped on more plastic.

He held a gloved finger up to his mouth to signal silence to the other, thankful for the voice modifier Himiko had put into his mask as he whispered to Miu. "I'm here to help... Is there anyone else here..?"

When Shuichi lifted his hand from Miu's mouth, he was surprised to see that the fake ultimate inventor seemed so calm at the moment, or at least, was shaken on the levels of normal standards. "T-They're holding one of my friends hostage here... S-Some b-bitch named Kanaloa is supposed to watch over us, b-but-"

"Supposed to? Oh, Miu, you don't have very high standards for me, do ya~?"

Shuichi's head snapped in the direction of the voice, which was right behind him, the red visor over his left eye allowing him to see the other person in the darkness.

Even with the visor on, though, he could barely make out who the other, who was sitting on one of the tables, was. The outfit they wore mixing with the red visor he wore, yet he could clearly see the weapon in their hand.

A scythe, long and sharp, his eyes widening just a bit once he noticed bits of red staining parts of the blade.

He fully turned around to face the other person, motioning for Miu to leave as he spoke. "I'll try to distract them. Go find your friend and bring them here."

"Wh-What the hell are you going to do?! You're just some fucking nutso in a-!"

She was cut off as Kanaloa suddenly dashed forward and off the table, with Shuichi quickly running towards them to meet them halfway. "I said go!"

He didn't look behind him to see if Miu followed his command, focusing on the person in front of him as they swung their scythe forward towards Shuichi. "I've heard about you from Two-Face, but I don't think he has the ability to describe someone like you well enough!"

Shuichi grabbed the blade with both hands, clapping them together over the blade before it could hit his head, gritting his teeth as he glared at the person in front of him. "Wow~ You're quite fast! Where did you learn to do that?"

Instead of answering, Shuichi swiftly kicked Kanaloa back, pushing the scythe's blade back as well to make sure it didn't hit him in the process. Kanaloa grunted in response, stumbling back a few steps before giving a somewhat winded sounded laugh. "Nyahahaha! It'll take a lot more than that to take me out, Monokuman!"

That's when it finally hit Shuichi. The way they spoke, the name possibly referencing a culture from outside of the country, hell, even the way the other laughed was familiar. 

_(Kanaloa is... Angie...)_

He didn't have long to dwell on this realization, though, as Kanaloa jumped forward again, once again swinging the scythe in her hand, this time towards his feet. Shuichi quickly jumped back, using his hands to move his cape up a bit so it wouldn't be cut. Once he landed, he didn't have enough time to steady himself before Kanaloa swung towards his feet, causing him to jump back once again. "Come on, Monokuman, you're going to get too tired to jump, and then you'll be at the mercy of my scythe!"

_(This is just going to happen over and over again unless I do something..! I need to think up a plan, and fast.)_

As Shuichi jumped back again, he took a quick glance at his surroundings, trying to find something that he could use to get out of this cycle. There was nothing around him but bits and pieces of plastic and a few more tables, though.

Still, Shuichi didn't allow this to deter him, taking a deep breath as he concocted a quick, somewhat risky plan.

This time, when Kanaloa swung the scythe towards his feet, he put more force into his jump, his boots making another dull thud echo across the factory again as he landed on the table. Kanaloa didn't have enough time to react to Shuichi suddenly being a few feet taller than her, or for when he suddenly jumped towards her, a boot aimed at her head. Instead, she took the full force of the hit, landing on her back as Shuichi almost stomped onto her face, instead rolling forward so that his cape barely touched her head.

The masked man took a second to collect himself, taking a few deep breaths as he remained crouched on the ground, contrasting the smooth, even breaths Kanaloa gave.

He forced himself to stand up once he heard footsteps approach him, taking one last look at Kanaloa before facing Miu, who was running towards him with someone draped over her shoulder, mumbling under her breath as she moved. "This isn't as difficult as I thought it would be... He's probably malnourished or some shit, I dunno... Depends on how long he's been in that fucking machine."

She stopped once she stood in front of Shuichi, gesturing towards the young man over her shoulder as she spoke. "So, are you going to fucking carry him, or am I going to have to do all the legwork around here?"

Shuichi couldn't help it as his eyes narrowed a bit in slight annoyance, a slightly frustrated sigh leaving his mouth before he spoke. "I can carry both of you easily, let me just-"

"S-Shit, look out!"

Shuichi barely had time to see the other's eyes widen before he felt a sharp pain in his side. Quickly, Shuichi turned around, already raising his fist to slam it into Kanaloa's head, ignoring the burning pain already growing in his hip as he turned.

Kanaloa didn't even attempt to dodge Shuichi's hit, hell, she almost seemed to be smiling as his fist collided with the side of her head. She instantly fell over, dropping the scythe in the process, and didn't get up again.

Shuichi stared down at her in silence for a few minutes to make sure she wouldn't get up again, holding a hand to his already bleeding side, with Miu staying strangely silent as well.

Once he was sure that Kanaloa wasn't going to get back up, he turned back to Miu, removing his hand from his side as he spoke. "Let's go, now."

Miu stared up at him in shock, as if he just claimed that pigs could actually fly, her grip on young man over her shoulder tightening as she spoke. "A-Are you fucking shitting me? Weren't you just-?"

"I said now!"

Miu gave a small, terrified shriek in response, but still complied to his command anyway, handing the young man over her shoulder to him before allowing Shuichi to carry her. He used the hand that was on the side Miu was on to grab his grappling hook, using his other hand to hold the young man over his other shoulder, ignoring the growing pain in his hip as he aimed it towards the open window. "You might want to hang on tight..."

Without waiting for a response, Shuichi fired the grappling gun, biting his lip to keep himself from screaming in pain, leaving behind nothing but Angie and bits and pieces of broken plastic.

###### 

After what could only be described as the worst forty five minutes of Shuichi's life, he finally made it back to the cave without dropping either person he was carrying, thankful that Miu stayed silent the entire trip. Once he made it inside the cave, though, was when he finally fell to his knees, Miu quickly getting off his shoulder as she nearly shouted at him. "You dumbass! What the fuck were you thinking?! Acting like some hero or some shit-"

"Shuichi..?"

Miu's eyes suddenly widened at the new voice, with Shuichi barely being able to hear it after losing so much blood, forcing himself to look up as he gently set the young man on his shoulder to the ground. "H-Hey Kaede... A little help here..?"

Kaede's, who wasn't wearing the Executioner's mask, eyes widened just a bit once she saw Shuichi, although whether it was from his wound or the person he was carrying, he couldn't tell. "O-Oh god..." She yelled over her shoulder for Maki and Himiko as she ran over to Shuichi, removing the mask from his face as she mumbled. "Take that stupid thing off, it's probably affecting your breathing somehow..."

"W-Wait a fucking minute!"

Both Kaede and Shuichi actually stopped moving for a moment to turn to Miu, who's eyes somehow widened just a bit more as she nearly yelled in shock. "Are you fucking telling me that both of you are the Executioner and..!" She waved towards Shuichi in an almost panicked manner as she spoke her next words. "Whatever the hell you're calling yourself?!"

Shuichi was about to mumble a reply before Kaede waved off Miu's words, turning back towards Shuichi as she mumbled. "We can explain it all later, alright? We'll have tons of time then, and you won't be bleeding so much..." She then looked down towards the young man Shuichi was carrying earlier, an almost terrified look in her eyes as she looked down at him. "Is that..?"

Shuichi could only nod in response, which was the only answer she needed, forcing herself to look away as she threw the Monokuman mask aside. "Well, I just hope that he recovers from... Whatever they put him through."

"Hey, don't talk as if I'm not here, you fucking-"

Once again, Miu was interrupted as Maki and Himiko finally appeared in Shuichi's vision, with Himiko nearly screaming once she saw the blood dripping off the wound in Shuichi's side and onto the cave's floor, while Maki remained as stoic as ever. 

The fake assassin walked away quickly, only to return a few moments later with the first aid kit she had brought when she had first started to train Shuichi. "Kaede, help him get over to one of the cots. Miu, you can put Kiibo on one of the other cots while we take care of this."

No one had the chance to respond as Maki quickly moved over towards one of the cots, leaving Kaede to help Shuichi to his feet while Miu picked Kiibo up off the ground once again, this time with a little help from Himiko.

While Shuichi knew that some blood was still flowing out from the wound on his side as he shuffled towards one of the cots, there was no longer any pain. If anything, he felt numb, which probably wasn't a good sign. Still, he couldn't help himself from wincing a bit as he was laid onto one of the cots, with Kiibo being laid down on the other cot not that far from him.

His attention didn't linger on Kiibo for long though as Maki kneeled besides his cot, opening the first aid kit at her side as she spoke. "Hey, Shuichi, can you hear me?"

It took a few minutes for Shuichi to nod his head, beginning to see the edges of his vision going dark as he forced some words to leave his mouth. "Y-Yeah... I hear you..."

"Okay, good. Now, listen to me carefully, I need you to..."

The rest of what Maki said turned into incoherent mumbling as more and more of Shuichi's vision goes dark, unable to prevent himself from shutting his eyes as his breathing became longer and somewhat calmer.

"... Shuichi..? Shuichi..? Shit, Shuichi, don't you dare pass out on me now..!"

Under normal circumstances, the raven haired boy would comply to Maki's command and wake up, the threat of having to do extra exercises or more difficult sparring sessions looming over his head. This time, though, Shuichi couldn't help himself from drifting off into unconsciousness, Maki's commands to wake up getting quieter and quieter before ceasing altogether.

###### 

"This is getting out of hand..!" One of the men sitting at the large table slammed his fist onto said table as he glared at the people around him. "It's only a matter of time before people begin to suspect that these fucking kids going crazy is our damn fault." He pointed towards another person at the table, nearly hissing through his teeth. "And we all know it's her fault. We should have just dropped our criminal connections when we had the chance. Now we have that god damn lunatic dressing up as our mascot out for us because of the lunatics she made, stealing her assets from that chemical factory, and-"

"Are you implying that he wouldn't exist if my friends didn't exist, Mr. Producer?"

The man stopped talking as the blue haired woman he was pointing at before finally spoke for the first time since the meeting began, only able to stare at her as she continued speaking. "If you have a complaint for one of my friends, you could just talk to them. Why, I think one of them is on their way here now..."

This time, a woman sitting a few seats away from the producer spoke up, her eyes widening just a bit at the blue haired woman's words. "Y-You can't just invite one of those lunatics here! T-They're just-!"

"They're just... What?"

Everyone besides the blue haired woman froze up at the new voice, all of them staring at the pale faced newcomer as he stared right back. "... No, go on. Don't let me intrude, finish what you have to say. Do any of you have a complaint about what I do?"

The woman who spoke before opened her mouth a few times, before quickly closing it, eventually just lowering her head in fear altogether, while the producer that spoke earlier practically growled. "Yeah, we have a complaint. Your little schemes are getting out of hand. It's only a matter of time before the police connect it back to us."

The newcomer stared right back at the producer, a hand to the bandanna covering the lower half of his face as he contemplated the man's words. "... Really now, and what you have Bullseye doing isn't doing that already?"

This time, the producer is unable to think of a reply, yet the pale faced newcomer only continues to talk, walking over towards the table slowly as he spoke. "The way I see it, whoever's bright idea to have Bullseye waste their efforts on killing off people in your little hate group should be punished." A soft chuckle left the small man's mouth as he finally stood next to the blue haired woman, staring right at the producer as he spoke. "Or at least fired, but I find the punishment of death to be more... Finale."

"Then what do you suggest we do, huh?"

The newcomer stared at the other person who just spoke, a confused look adorning his face as he turned to the blue haired woman. "... Hey, Director, who's that loser?"

"I believe that's another producer..."

"Oooohhh..." The pale man shut his eyes in thought for a moment or so, before finally looking towards the producer that just spoke up. "Well, besides killing all of the idiots here, which is most of you, I think it's a good idea to just cause some chaos. You know, live a little..!"

"I believe what the Joker is trying to say is..." The Director quickly cut in, much to the Joker's obvious annoyance. "Is that we cause some chaos that isn't relevant to Team Danganronpa. It'll bring the focus off of us, and onto something else... Like the police force's incompetence, perhaps?"

Silence reigns over the large room for a solid few minutes before someone else speaks up, their voice quiet compared to the other members of Team Danganronpa. "Who exactly do you have in mind..?"

The Director looked up towards the Joker for a moment, who almost seemed ecstatic once he heard that question. "Oh, oh! I have a few in mind! Like bug boy!" He then gasped, almost waving his hands in the air excitedly as he walked away from the table and towards the exit. "Oh, or maybe even that girl that wears the mask all the time? Oh, this is going to be fun, I just have to get them ready for this..!"

Before anyone could stop the pale boy from leaving, he had already left the room to, presumably, prepare whoever it was for... Whatever he had in mind.

The man who sat at the head of the table sighed, running a hand down his face before turning to The Director. "... Watch over them. If this goes haywire, I expect you to step in quickly and resolve the solution by any means necessary."

The blue haired woman didn't argue, simply bowing after standing up, mumbling out her reply as she did. "Yes sir, I will try my best."

"Good... With that, then, this meeting is dismissed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact time: Angie's villain name, Kanaloa, is the Hawaiian god of death! Well, not really, it's actually a different goddess who's name I can't really recall right now. Yet Kanaloa was mistakenly labeled the God of death by settlers, and I thought it was quite fitting for Angie, considering how, like her backstory, it is somewhat "fake" in a sense. Kanaloa is also known for being quite violent, so I thought it was a bit fitting for Angie, considering how the culture relating to her fake backstory is somewhat violent and somewhat crude at times as well. 
> 
> Also, this follows more so with the Japanese version of the game. I disliked how the english translation used Atua as Angie's god in the game instead of keeping the God anonymous. so there's that
> 
> anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this update! feedback is welcomed and appreciated, and I hope you all have a nice morning/afternoon/evening! and once again, happy new year!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I was gonna make a pun here but I forgot what it was so Im just gonna head onto the disclaimers
> 
> disclaimers: i own nothing

_"Even if I am a fictional character, my life is real... That's why killing games are fun, right? It's fun to see two lives clash, right? But I won't let you use my life for some show! I'm going to use my life...to end this killing game! So Tenko, Angie, and all the past victims can rest in peace... I'll use the only weapon I've got! I'll use my life to put an end to this killing game!"_

* * *

 

The small apartment seems like it hasn't been used in years. The wallpaper is torn and completely missing from some parts of the bare walls, while the plumbing is broken, what little water that runs through it leaking through the ceiling onto the floor below, filling what should be an empty room with sound. 

A girl is in the center of the living room, tied to a decrepit wooden chair, her cries for help cut off by a fabric, the sound of her muffled cries overshadowed by the dripping of the pipes and her tears as they drop to the ground below her feet.

A table sits right in front of her, as old and rotten as the chair she is bound to, yet steady as it holds the object set on it. It's a strange thing, something that wouldn't be found inside most stores. Its shape is the most normal thing about it, looking as if it could hold a doll. 

The contents are anything that innocent or childish.

The box is wooden, the polished wood glistening from the light a single swinging light-bulb provided. A green question mark adorns each side, each one flashing dully on its own accord, a low, quiet beeping resounding with each flash. 

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps make their way into the room, and the girl's eyes widen, her will to escape quickly returning as she struggled against the ropes, before suddenly freezing up as something slammed into the table in front of her.

The table holds under the cane's weight, as well as the abuse it suffered seconds before, the barely visible green glove holding the cane tightening just a bit as the owner of it leaned forward, revealing the lower half of their face, white teeth flashing in the dull light. "High diddle diddle..." Suddenly, the light from a phone illuminated their face, the girl's eyes somehow widening even more once she saw who they were. "... It's time for a riddle."

###### 

From her spot next to the cot Shuichi lied on, Kaede can't help but stare at the growing mess that Miu was putting together besides Kiibo's own cot.

At first, it didn't seem like that much of a problem. There were the few machines Miu had put together for Kiibo's medical needs with whatever scrap Himiko had from the things she had built for Shuichi, as well as the few objects Maki had somehow swiped from Team Danganronpa's medical bay. Now that she was done with that, though, as well as Maki and Himiko being unable to supervise, both of them leaving the cave to go to some sort of conference, what she was making only seemed to grow in scale as time went on. 

Yet Kaede couldn't really work up the courage to ask Miu what she was even doing, the memories of her being around Miu as the Executioner still fresh in her mind. It almost felt like some sort of nightmare to her, one which she couldn't wake up from, even now. Putting on the mask for the armor felt like an out of body experience, yet also somewhat comforting, like a child sleeping with a stuffed toy that they love.

In the end, though, interaction with the vulgar blond was inevitable as she stepped back from her invention, which now looked like some sort of motorbike, a smug smirk adoring Miu's face as she reached forward and pressed some sort of button on what seemed to be a handlebar. A dull whir follows afterward, before something shoots out of the front and back of the motorbike.

On instinct, Kaede gets up in a flash, stepping in front of Shuichi's cot in case whatever shot out of the bike came to their direction, intending to take the brunt of whatever was shot even if she wasn't wearing her Executioner armor. She doubted what she wore, which was just a simple shirt, sweatpants, and sweat-jacket she got from Himiko, could protect her from a attack from any weapon.

Yet whatever shot out of the contraption never comes close to her, instead, it embeds itself into the cave wall in-front of it and behind it with a dull thunk, with Miu giving a cheer once she saw what happened. "Yes! I can't believe this actually fucking worked!"

"... What are you working on exactly?"

Kaede doesn't realize that she spoke until Miu's look of pride vanishes, a shrill yell escaping her mouth as she jumped, quickly turning to face Kaede as she stuttered. "J-Jesus fucking christ, how long have you been here?!"

Kaede stares at Miu for a moment before shutting her eyes, a sigh leaving her mouth as she forced herself to sit back down and relax. "... I never left."

Miu's look of shock turns into a scowl, turning back to what she was working on before as she mumbled out her reply. "Why the hell not? Don't you have anywhere to go, or do you live in this damn cave?"

"I..." For once, Kaede feels somewhat sheepish, having to look away from Miu to prevent herself from speaking the entire truth.

_(I don't know if I have anywhere to go...)_

Kaede forces herself to cough as she stands, taking one look at Shuichi, still laying down on the cot and covered by a blanket, before taking a few cautious steps towards Miu, not wanting to pass a possible unspoken boundary. "H-Hey, you never answered my question. What are you working on?"

Miu glares up at the other blond with an emotion Kaede can't quite decipher, before she slowly turns back around, visibly tense, as if Kaede would attack her while she wasn't looking. "... Since your fucking lunatic of a friend thought it was a fantastic idea to carry us around while he was wounded, I thought about making it easier for everyone if it happened again." She raises a hand to press another button on the handlebar, making the two objects that shot out of it before, which Kaede now saw was wire, recede back into the motorbike. "This baby could grapple from building to building, but it's not that stable... And the motor doesn't really work right yet..."

Slowly, Kaede took a few steps forward until she finally stood right behind Miu, clasping her hands together as she stared down at the contraption. 

For now, it looked like a bulky purple mess, the only things that showed it was a motorbike were the wheels attached to the front and back of the vehicle and the handlebars on the front of it. It baffled Kaede had Miu could make something so fast in so little time, before she quickly recalled how long it took for Miu to create a few other inventions, like the fear toxin that she had made for Korekiyo, as well as her own Executioner armor..

Kaede quickly shut her eyes, shaking her head a bit, as if to shake the thought of her head, before opening her eyes again, scrambling for something to say. Something that, hopefully, was on topic and didn't lead the conversation down a darker path. "... Does it come in black and white?"

Kaede almost slapped herself for the stupid question before Miu gives a snort, grabbing the wrench she set down earlier, still not turning around as she spoke. "You mean Shuichi's aesthetic? Once I'm done with it, I sure as hell can paint it like that." Suddenly, the sense of mirth Miu had before vanished, replaced with an uncharacteristic solemn look as Miu finally looked towards Kaede. "... Why is he dressed up like that anyway? I mean, out of all the people in that fucking killing game, he didn't seem like he'd do some fucked up shit like..." She gestures to the entire cave, although her hands mostly point towards the Monokuman costume, which she had "fixed" earlier with Himiko and Maki's help, on Shuichi's workbench. "This."

Kaede stares down at Miu as she mulls over the other's question, before staring down at Shuichi. She had to admit, the Shuichi she knew inside her scrambled memories and the one she knew now were vastly different, both physically and mentally.

The one she knew then was shy, unsure of himself, was terrified of finding the truth, and probably couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. The Shuichi in front of her was covered in bruises from fights, fought crime while he was dressed up as a company's mascot, and almost seemed cold, even reserved sometimes. At least when he was in the cave, since that was the only time she did see him, although he did spend most of his time in the cave now.

Did the killing game turn him into this? She didn't know, she never bothered or had the time to watch the rest of the killing game past her own death.

Whether it was a god or bad change, Kaede had yet to tell.

In the end, Kaede simply shrugs, lowering her voice to a whisper, as if Shuichi would somehow be able to hear her in his current state. "Honestly? I have no idea. I'm just glad that he didn't turn out like us..."

Miu scoffs, turning back to the motorbike as she mumbled. "You mean you're glad he didn't turn out like you or one of those other fucking psychopaths."

"..." Kaede feels her clasped hands tightening into fists just a bit, yet the rest of her body doesn't respond to the other's words with anger. Instead, Kaede stares down at Miu in shock, looking as if she was slapped, before mumbling out her reply, sounding defeated. "... You're right... I am glad that-"

The sound of a cot creaking under the weight of movement cuts through Kaede's words, causing both blonds to look behind them to see Shuichi slowly trying to sit up, prompting Kaede to suddenly take back her place by his cot, gently forcing him to lay back down. "H-Hey, don't get up just yet, the stitches might get torn if you move too fast... Neither Miu or I know how to fix something like that, right Miu?"

Miu only grunts in response, grabbing a tarp off the floor that Kaede hadn't seen earlier behind the motorbike, before using it to cover the motorbike.

Kaede stares at Miu for a moment, as if expecting more of a response, before shaking her head, forcing a small smile onto her face as she faced Shuichi again, as if that would somehow reassure the dazed raven haired young man. "That, and Maki will probably get pretty mad if she finds out you ruined the stitches, since she worked on them for so long..."

Once Shuichi's back is flat on the cot, he blinks slowly a few times, staring up at Kaede as he did, before he sighs, shutting his eyes as he digs the palms of his hands into them, wincing just a bit in pain as he moved his arms. "... How long was I out?"

Kaede hums in thought as she takes the phone Shuichi had given her out of her pocket, turning it on for a split second before turning it off, hoping that Shuichi didn't see what was on the screen. "It was about two am when you passed out, so it's been about... A day? Almost two?" Once the phone is back in her pocket, Kaede clasps her hands together once again, leaning forward in her seat just a bit. "Himiko was getting pretty worried yesterday, but Maki said that you probably weren't passed out from blood loss, just exhaustion."

"..." Shuichi sighs once again as he removed his hands from his eyes, blinking quickly as he looked around the cave before looking back at Kaede. "... Where... Where are they..?"

It takes Kaede a few seconds to realize what Shuichi was asking, looking around the cave for a moment before figuring out he was talking about Maki and Himiko, a somewhat sheepish smile appearing on her face as she spoke. "Ah... Team Danganronpa is having an emergency conference, and they needed the killing game "winners" to be there." Before Shuichi can open his mouth again, Kaede waves him off. "Don't worry. As far as Team Danganronpa knows, you're sick in bed and can barely stand."

It takes awhile, but eventually, Shuichi nods his head, a somewhat relieved look coming over him as he once again relaxed. "Okay, that's... That's good." He then stops, his eyes widening just a bit as his head snaps towards Kaede. "W-Wait, you said I was out for two days? Two days?!"

At first, Kaede doesn't know how to reply. She hasn't known Shuichi for that long, sure, but she's never seen him this... crazed. The look on his face is somewhat familiar, yet as to why, she didn't know. 

At first, she debates whether she shouldn't actually answer his question, before deciding against it. She's already told him the truth, and not repeating herself would just make Shuichi even more upset than he was now. "Well, not quite two days, but..."

Kaede doesn't get the chance to finish her sentence before Shuichi tries to get up once again, wincing as he did, keeping a hand against his side where Kaede was sure the stitches were. "I-I... I need to do something, then. I can't let anyone know that Monokuman was hurt, I-"

"Oh no you fucking don't!"

Kaede nearly jumps at the sudden voice, before immediately relaxing. She had forgotten that Miu, as well as Kiibo, were also in the cave, yet she doesn't turn around as Miu continues speaking. "Listen here, Shuichi. If you go outside in your fancy suit like that, you're more likely to get yourself hurt. Or, hell, you might even die. Do you really want that? Do you really want to die in some alleyway you're resting in by, I dunno, some dude with a gun and a lucky streak?"

This time, Kaede's head snaps back, yet not to glare at the other blond, she only stares at Miu in shock.

The thought of Shuichi dying has, surprisingly, never crossed her mind. Now that it has, though, many scenarios role around in her head.

She sees Kaito shooting his old friend at point blank rage, a deranged grin on the purple haired man's face as he pulls the trigger, half of it hidden by a mask.

She sees Shuichi laughing hysterically under the influence of Kokichi's laughing gas grenades, before a similar smile is cut across his throat.

She sees not a scenario, but a memory, this one clear as day, of her wrapping a hand around Shuichi's throat, cutting off any oxygen to his lungs as he struggles to remove her hand from his throat.

She sees herself aiming a pistol at Shuichi in a dark and dingy warehouse, pointing it at his head, before hesitating, changing the trajectory so that she would shoot his hand instead.

Because, like Kokichi said, it just wouldn't be fun to kill your opponent off so early, would it?

_(Even if Kokichi never said that, I wouldn't have killed him... Would I-?)_

Kaede nearly jumps out of her seat as she feels a hand wrap around her shoulder, snapping back to her senses as she turned around to face Shuichi, who gave her a worried look in return. "... Hey, Kaede, are you okay..? You didn't look like you were here for a second..."

Kaede stares down at Shuichi for a minute, before looking back towards Miu, who seemed to be recovering from shaking under Kaede's stare.

The fake pianist can't help the guilt that suddenly rises in her heart, suddenly wanting to apologize to Miu for everything she's done. Not just for what happened now, but also for how she treated her as the Executioner. For the fear and pain she had inflicted upon the fake inventor when she was held captive.

In the end, though, that thought is added onto the list of regrets she has mentally made for herself as she forces a smile onto her face, turning back to Shuichi as she spoke, shaking his hand off her arm as she forced herself to her feet. "Yeah... I'm fine."

The look Shuichi gives her is one that says he isn't convinced, yet he doesn't pry further, instead forcing himself to sit up completely, the blanket falling off him to reveal a white shirt stained just a bit with his own blood. "Alright..." He then looks over towards Miu, a shaky smile appearing on his own face, yet it doesn't seem as forced as Kaede's. "You make a good point though, Miu. I don't like it, but Monokuman is just going to have to stay hidden for awhile longer..."

At this point, Miu seems to have recovered from her shivering, turning to look at Kiibo's medical equipment as she scoffed. "Of course I'm right. I'm Miu fucking Iruma, the girl genius."

"... But that doesn't mean that I can't go outside as myself."

Kaede and Miu go silent at Shuichi's words. Kaede couldn't speak for Miu, but she knew that Shuichi was right. If both Monokuman and Shuichi disappeared for awhile, people were bound to get suspicious. Besides, both of them could watch over the cave while he was gone, although it wasn't like there was a chance of the cave being invaded anyway.

Or, at least Miu could watch over it by herself.

The phone in Kaede's pocket nearly burns as she remembers what's on it. She doesn't know why she saved the address even if she's seen it so much that it's engraved into her skull.

With only Miu and Kiibo in the cave, it'd be easy to sneak out. Hell, the other blond didn't even know that she wasn't supposed to leave the cave without someone else.

It's with that thought that Kaede forces a more reassuring smile onto her face, although it isn't that hard, the joy that she feels at the idea of leaving the cave makes her smile seem more real. "Of course! That's perfectly fine. It's not like anyone expects you to do back-flips or anything, right Miu?"

Miu gives a small grunt in response, pressing a few buttons on heart monitor that's connected to Kiibo, using her other hand to wave Kaede off. "I don't fucking care what he does as long as he doesn't dress up as a sideshow attraction."

With Miu's, both unneeded yet technical, blessing, Kaede helps Shuichi to his feet, although she didn't really need to help him that much, as nothing was wrong with his legs. Once he's standing, Kaede leaves him alone to get dressed, looking down at Kiibo as he did.

The silver haired boy looks malnourished, even exhausted, his jaw clearly outlined under his skin with dark circles under his eyes, even if he was asleep now, yet her mind doesn't linger on worrying about him for long. All she can think of is heading to the address on her phone, and escaping the cave for a few precious hours of freedom.

###### 

It takes awhile for Shuichi to get over to the front of Team Danganronpa's headquarters, mostly because he didn't bother with taking a taxi there. Taking one would have been faster, yes, but he felt the need to walk there. He had been out for nearly two days, and he needed to at least get his legs somewhat used to walking for long periods of time again.

Yet, as he walked towards the tall building, he started to realize that taking a taxi would have been slower than walking there, as crowds of people surrounded Team Danganronpa's headquarters.

Shuichi can't help the small smile from appearing on his face once he sees that they're people protesting the killing game, which was hidden by the hood covering most of his face.

He wasn't there to protest, though. No, rather, he was looking for someone among the protesters. He just hoped that while he was walking among the crowd of people that no one would look too closely at his face and recognize him.

As he places a hand over the growing pain in his side and grits his teeth, he also hopes that no one asks him what's wrong. After all, that just leads to someone looking a little too close and finding out that Shuichi Saihara is not where he belongs.

No, he would rather bleed out from the pain than have someone figure out who he was. He doesn't think that he would be able to handle the accusing stares, or the questions of how he didn't do more. How he isn't doing anything now to stop the killing games.

_(Well, not as Shuichi, but... It's not like I'm going to tell them that I'm really-)_

"Hey, kid, you alright?"

Shuichi's eyes widened at the somewhat familiar voice, the sudden smell of cigarette smoke filling the air, suffocating him, making it hard to breath as he began to panic. It takes him a few seconds to finally force some words to leave his mouth, yet it feels like acid dripping down his throat. "I-I'm fine, sir."

He flinches as a hand wraps around his shoulder, gently tugging him so that he was facing whoever spoke before. "Really now, kid? You've been walking around like you're trying to hide the fact you were stabbed or something."

Shuichi bites his lip, because that's exactly what he was doing, yet he relaxes just a bit once he figures out that the other man doesn't really know that. After all, he only said that he looked like he was just stabbed, not that he was.

Gently, Shuichi shrugs off the hand, glancing over his shoulder and looking up towards the other as he spoke, being careful to make sure his face wasn't that visible. "I-I just hit my waist earlier. Don't worry officer, I'll be..."

He only realizes mid sentence that the man is part of the police force as he faces the other man, his words slipping out without much thought, yet his voice still dies off once he realizes who he's talking to.

The other man seems to recognize Shuichi as well as he takes a sharp intake of breath, unaffected by the smoke around him, his eyes widening just a bit as he looks over Shuichi's face.

The silence is suffocating, more so by the people around them full of noise and life, cutting through the tension and slicing it to bits like dozens of knives as the two stare at each other.

Shuichi surprises himself by breaking the silence first, his words quiet, slow even, with him almost feeling like he wasn't even speaking. "... Uncle Minoru, I-"

He was cut off as Minoru wrapped his nephew in a tight hug, nearly picking up the raven haired man as said man gave a startled yell, burying his face into Shuichi's shoulder as he shouted. "Jesus christ kid..! What the hell are you doing here?!"

Even if Shuichi was expecting this sort of response, and had been preparing himself for it since he left the cave to look for his uncle, he was still taken aback by it, the stitches on his side burning and screaming as Minoru kept him in a tight hug, his hood shifting so it revealed his face just a bit. Still, Shuichi feels a smile make its way onto his face, although it is somewhat pained, not at all worried about the hood. "I-I was... Looking for you..."

Shuichi barely catches the surprised look on his uncle's face as the taller man set his nephew down, almost causing a somewhat relieved sigh to leave Shuichi's mouth as the pain in his side lessened just a bit. "... Really, kid? Here? Right in front of the Team Danganronpa building?" He then takes the cigarette out of his mouth, using it to point towards the Team Danganronpa building, the path to the front entrance blocked by dozens of shouting protesters. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be... Uhm..."

Shuichi can't help the somewhat annoyed sigh from escaping his mouth as he glanced towards the tall building, readjusting the hood as he did. Even if he was inside that building only a few times, the memories he had there were quite clear and repulsive. From waking up from a coma caused by a virtual reality to being attacked by an old classmate, he really hoped that the next time he went inside, it would be a somewhat normal experience.

He wasn't counting on it, though.

"Team Danganronpa doesn't own me, Uncle Minoru. Besides, it's not like they need all three of us, Maki and Himiko are already inside." He finally looks back towards his uncle, his smile now completely absent from his face. "And I was heading to the police department first. I just happened to run into this crowd on the way there. Now, what exactly are you doing here?"

"... Huh... Maki and Himiko..." For a few minutes, his uncle simply stared down at Shuichi after mumbling those words, placing the cigarette back in his mouth only to roll it back and forth on his lip, letting ash fall off and onto the concrete below, a small puff of smoke leaving his mouth each time the cigarette moved. 

Shuichi almost recoiled in disgust at the sight. In any memory he had of his uncle, fake or otherwise, his uncle had never smoked before, if anything, his uncle abhorred it, and it was probably one of the reasons Shuichi came to see him. If he was appalled by his own decision to enter the killing game and how he was before it, he couldn't imagine what hell his uncle had to live through if he had to turn to smoking to cope. It didn't help that Shuichi had been actively trying to avoid him up until meeting him as Monokuman.

_(I didn't think he would want to see me... If I was really like that person I saw in the audition tape, he would probably want to stay far away from me.)_

But apparently, he had been wrong about that, and he had probably been doing worse by not talking to him. Or so he thought, as the tense silence between the two raven haired men stretched on, slowly causing Shuichi to feel on edge. He was used to the long silences as Monokuman, but not as himself.

Eventually, though, the tension stops as Minoru suddenly laughs of all things, clapping a hand on Shuichi's shoulder as he did. "Sorry, kid, can't disclose that. Police business and all. But it isn't that important right now." He then points off down the road away from the protesters, his grin growing just a bit. "Now, from what I heard, your memories are a little foggy from them being wiped out and all, so how about we take the time to catch up? There's this really nice coffee place down the street, and-"

Suddenly, the sound of a phone ringing cuts through Minoru's words, and he stops. At first, Shuichi thinks it's one of the phones he brought with him, one in each jacket pocket, until his uncle removes the phone from his pocket, smiling sheepishly down at his nephew as he did. "Ah, sorry Shuichi, do you mind if I take this? Could be important."

After a few seconds, Shuichi slowly nods his head, and Minoru quickly answers the phone. "Hello? Detective Minoru here, is something-?"

_"Detective Saihara... It's an honor to finally speak to you."_

Even if the phone wasn't on speaker, Shuichi could clearly hear the reply on the other side, and was instantly taken aback by the voice over the phone. It was scrambled, much like how Kaede's was whenever she wore the Executioner's mask. 

For a split second, Shuichi thinks that this is something his uncle was probably used to, like a prank or something of the sort, until his uncle yells back into the phone. "Who the hell is this? How do you have this number?"

A deep, drawn out chuckle emanates from the phone, before the garbled voice returns. _"I am the one that was supposed to survive, but did not. In the end, I was naught but a puppet made by them and left to rot. Who am I?"_

"That's exactly what I'm asking you! Now, stop spouting bullshit, and just answer my question!"

_"That's exactly what I did, detective. But I think my identity is the least of your worries right now, not if you want to save lives..."_

Both Shuichi and Minoru froze up completely at the others words, yet the silence this time is something Shuichi is used to. This wasn't the silence caused by being embarrassed or by a friend teasing another, but the silence caused by danger, one which he must solve and prevent. "... What are you talking about?"

Minoru looks down at Shuichi in shock, who looked completely composed, opening his mouth to say something when the voice over the phone cuts him off. _"I recognize that voice... I've heard it long ago... Shuichi Saihara, was it?"_

Instead of giving a reply, Shuichi remains silent, causing the person on the phone to laugh once again. _"Oh, this will be such much more fun, then. The detective who was written to be terrified of the truth would shy away from this, but then again, I wasn't there to see your character truly develop..."_

Shuichi catches how Minoru tightens his grip on his phone, gritting his teeth so much that it cuts through the cigarette in his mouth. "What the hell are you talking about now?"

_"All will be revealed in due time, Detective Saihara. But, I think you're more interested in what I have planned... Later, I will send you a text, which will be a hint to a certain location. As for what I'm going to do to that place, well... You're about to get a sneak peak. Now, riddle me this!"_

The sound of a faint hissing and low beeping fills the air, cutting through the chants the protesters around them gave, and Shuichi looks around slowly while Minoru's gaze is focused on the ground. 

_(... What's that sound?)_

_"While it takes forever to create me, my purpose only allows me to survive for a few minutes once I'm turned on. Be careful not to step too close to me, or you just might end up completely gone."_

_(... It sounds close by... But what did that person just say? Completely gone? Only for a few seconds? What lasts that long and can kill someone?)_

_"What am I?"_

The beeping slowly gets louder and louder, and some protesters look around in confusion, searching for the source of the beeping, yet Minoru still doesn't seem to notice, continuing to yell into his phone as Shuichi shuts his eyes in thought.

_(That beeping... Actually, it kind of sounds like a bomb, now that I think about it. And the riddle does make sense if the answer is a bomb...)_

"... Wait a minute." Shuichi's eyes suddenly snapped open, and he quickly turns to face his uncle. "Uncle Minoru! The answer is a bomb! There's a bomb here, and-"

A deafening boom from down the street cuts him off, shaking the Earth beneath his feet and filling his ears with the screams from the people around him, yet there is no ringing in his ears, which he is somewhat thankful for. In the chaos of it all, his uncle manages to grab his nephew's arm, tugging him closer to him so that Shuichi could hear him speak, the phone far away from his face and above his head. "Shuichi, we'll have to cancel those plans for coffee, alright? Head home where its safe, your uncle has to do his job."

Before Shuichi can reply, his uncle lets go, and runs off in the direction of the explosion, weaving through the people heading in the opposite direction of it.

For a few seconds, all Shuichi can do is stare after the man, before he snaps out of it, turning to run in the opposite direction of the explosion, easily outrunning most of the people around him, even with his stitched up side.

_(So much for Monokuman taking a break from crime fighting... But I guess the saying justice never sleeps applies for crimes too.)_

###### 

"Excuse me, but you're going to what?"

Even if Maki's voice wasn't raised to a yell, it takes all of Shuichi's willpower not to flinch away as she finishes removing the stitches on his body with a pair of medical scissors, now out of the dress she wore for the Team Danganronpa conference and in a simple shirt and jeans, trying his best to focus on the space above Maki's head as he spoke. "I'm going out tonight as Monokuman. I can't just sit here and do nothing as some lunatic bombs most of the city."

Maki scoffs as she cuts another stitch before looking up towards Shuichi, her eyes narrowed into slits as she lowered her voice. "Yes, you can. Or do you want to die?"

Back then, Shuichi would have shrunk away from both Maki's glare and her words, yet now, after knowing her for so long, he knows that she can't help it. Her threats were empty to him at this point, as he knew she wouldn't carry them out, and he knew that her actions were more out of concern and fear than malice.

That, and if she was angry, her anger was probably more so directed towards Kaede than him, as she had snuck out of the cave without Miu noticing. 

While Shuichi couldn't really blame Miu for what happened, the fact that Kaede was still missing remained, and Shuichi was surprised that Maki didn't immediately stomp out of the cave to hunt her down, Himiko hanging on her arm as the red head tried to hold her back. Instead, she had simply sighed, her shaking head conveying an emotion Shuichi couldn't quite read.

Yet her anger still remained, even now, and it takes awhile for Shuichi to find the right words to say to Maki. "... No, I don't. But have you heard the reports? Over a dozen dead, and a few of them were police officers. Maki, I can't..." Shuichi flinches a bit as Maki cuts another one of the stitches on his side, ignoring the small amount of pain it brought, before continuing. "... I can't just sit here and allow one of our friends kill more people just because they're not in the right state of mind..."

Maki cuts a few more of the stitches in silence, not looking up towards Shuichi, but towards the patchwork job she had made on his side. Eventually, she sighs, looking up towards Shuichi again as she spoke. "And I can't allow you to get killed by one of your "old friends" because you have a misguided sense of judgement. If you're going out there alone, then you're going to die alone."

"... What if I take someone with me, then?"

The words come out of his mouth without much thought, even shocking him as Maki nearly stabs him with the scissors in her hand on accident, quickly retracting her hand before they do. Shuichi quickly flinches away, but the look Maki gives him causes him to freeze up once again. "... Do you really think it's a good idea for one of us to be put into danger because of all of this?"

After a few seconds, Shuichi shrugs, moving back to the spot he was at before on the cot as he quietly spoke. "I don't know, did you think it would be a good idea to train a fake detective so he could become a crime fighter?"

The glare Maki gives Shuichi would probably kill a man, but Shuichi only stares back, a hand clasped over his side, where the scar underneath his shirt throbbed just a bit in pain.

Eventually, though, Maki sighs in defeat, moving so that she was sitting next to Shuichi once again, moving his shirt up a bit to reveal the scar that still had some stitches on it. "... Who do you have in mind?"

Shuichi hides the shock he gets from Maki's resignation as he looks around the cave towards the many people inside, his eyes jumping from person to person in seconds.

Miu and Kiibo definitely weren't an option, as the silver haired boy was still in a comatose state, and Miu didn't know how to fight in the first place. Besides, she had already made her way into a role of her own, which was creating new stuff for Monokuman. Even now, she was messing with the mask for the costume, putting something inside it that Shuichi could only hope helped him rather than distract him.

Kaede was out of the question, as she wasn't even there. There was also that lingering fear that she was still working for Team Danganronpa, which only grew the more time she was gone. 

His gaze glanced at Maki for a second before quickly looking away. While Maki did know how to fight, she didn't want to be that involved in actually fighting crime. She was already under a lot of surveillance by Team Danganronpa, as she was returning next season, and if anything happened to her while she was outside, then anyone at Team Danganronpa could make the connection. There was also the fact that most would suspect her, since she was already known for her ultimate assassin talent. With Shuichi, no one would really suspect him, since he wasn't known for violence during the killing game.

That, and Maki needed to be there in case Kaede came back with violent intentions.

That really only left one person, who Kaede had been training to fight since she arrived as some sort of distraction to the world around her. This person sat behind a workbench covered in some of the boomerangs Shuichi used, which Miu dubbed "Monorangs", even if they were only red, and smoke bombs they had yet to finish.

Shuichi had watched them train for awhile, and while he had no idea why she decided to do so, it was still better than the alternative, which was to remain in the cave.

He lifted his hand carefully so it wouldn't disturb Maki, waving towards the person behind the workbench as he called out to them. "... Hey, Himiko, want to help me out tonight?"

The red head looks up from her work to stare at Shuichi for a few seconds, before she finally sets the item in her hand, the Bear-Claw, down. "Nyeh..? I'm already making stuff for you, though..."

"A-Ah, that's not what I meant, I-"

"He's asking you if you want to help him out by going with him tonight and making sure he doesn't die."

Even if the last part of Maki's sentence was concerning, the overall message of what she was saying seemed to be all Himiko heard, as she stared at the two for a few seconds in shock before jumping up. "Y-Yeah! I-I wanna help!"

Even if Shuichi wanted this, he can't help the sheepish smile from appearing on his face, lowering his hand to his hair to smooth it back as he spoke. "Himiko you don't have to..."

"I'm gonna! Wait right there, I'll ask Miu for a costume right now!"

Hearing her name, Miu looks up from the mask in her hand a confused look taking over her face as she did. "Who the fuck said my name? What the fuck do they want?"

Himiko waved towards the blond as she stood, using her other hand to cup it around her mouth, even if her voice already echoed in the cave. "Me! I want to ask you for something!"

"Augh, what the fuck do you want, flat chest?"

"F-Flat chest?!"

Shuichi sighs as he shuts his eyes, now using his hand to rub them as he did. He asked for this, he knew that, and if what was happening now was any indication of what was going to happen tonight, then it was going to be a long one.

###### 

Minoru takes one more drag on his cigarette before dropping it to the ground, stomping on it instead of simply letting the flames die out. Given how much debris there was on the roof of the police department, it wouldn't be odd to think that some of the trash would catch on fire if he simply left it there.

Speaking of the police department rooftop, it was quite an odd place to meet, yet the person he was meeting wasn't normal either. No one usually went there, which wasn't obvious due to the amount of trash, so no one would really be able to eavesdrop on the conversation, especially this late at night.

Still, he was surprised by the call he had gotten. With the voice, which held that stoic trait Monokuman had instead of the garbled voice of the person earlier, telling him to meet up at the rooftop at 1 am.

At first, Minoru had worried that it was a prank of sorts, before realizing that no one could really try to pull it off unless they knew he spoke to Monokuman before. He had been so careful to hide the fact that Monokuman had visited the crime scene that he even made sure that no camera footage of the conversation existed. 

Nonetheless, this was still somewhat ridiculous. He spat onto the ground where the squashed cigarette now was before stomping on it again. "Doesn't he know that I got better things to do..?"

"Like investigate bombings?"

Minoru jumped at the sudden voice, the breeze from him turning around so fast causing some trash to fly in the small breeze. Some of it moved a bit behind him, attaching to the legs of the masked man in front of him before either falling to the ground or falling behind him. "Trust me, I know detective. It's why I'm here."

Minoru stared at the man for a few seconds more before fully turning around, a sheepish smile, much like his nephew's own, appearing on his face as he walked towards the frowning masked man. "Ah, yeah, sorry about that. So, you've heard about that incident too, huh? Know anything else about it?"

The masked man huffed, the red visor over his eye shining a bit in the moonlight as he moved. "I know nearly everything about the incident, detective, including that the perpetrator called to warn you about it minutes before it happened." Before Minoru could open his mouth, the masked man narrowed their eyes just a bit, speaking before Minoru could. "I don't blame you for not acting fast enough, detective. I just need some details about the phone call."

"... R-Right, the phone call..." Minoru dug into his pockets for a few seconds before he finally found his phone, opening it to his text messages as he spoke. "I couldn't tell whether the person on the phone was a man or a woman, their voice was too scrambled for that, and our tech guys can't do anything about it. The person on the phone just started spouting nonsense. I think they were riddles that told us about their identity, so we've dubbed them "The Riddler"... A-Anyway, they said that they were going to send me texts, claiming that they were hints to different locations, and that the next riddle was a hint as to what they were going to do to those locations."

"... Which I'm guessing was connected to the explosion in some way?'

Minoru slowly nodded his head, finally finding the texting function of his app, only to scroll around the messages he's been getting to find the right text. "Yeah, the answer was "a bomb". My, uh..." At this, Minoru gave an almost embarrassed chuckle. "My nephew actually solved it before I could..."

Monokuman said nothing in response, only continuing to stare at Minoru, causing the raven haired man to speed up his search for the right text before holding the phone out to the masked man. "H-Here, this one arrived a few hours ago-"

As Monokuman reached for the phone, another hand shot out from behind him, this one covered in a pink glove. It snatched the phone out of Minoru's hand before either man could react, with the owner of said hand moving so that they stood besides Monokuman as they looked down at the phone. "Huh, what an old phone..."

Minoru simply stares down at the other masked person, who he guessed was a girl, judging by how her voice sounded, as Monokuman glares down at her. "... You can't just do that."

The girl in the pink mask actually had to look up to see the other's face, a small, somewhat childish looking pout appearing on her face before she spoke. "You do it all the time, though..."

As Monokuman's eyes narrowed, Minoru looked over the girl's costume. It was pink on one side, and white on the other, similar to Monokuman's, yet instead of the her mask having bear ears like Monokuman's, the ears on hers seemed to be like a rabbits. The design reminded him of that other animatronic character in the second Danganronpa game his nephew had. What was her name again? Monomi? 

Besides that, though, her costume looked exactly like Monokuman's. Even the belt wrapped around her waist had some of the same things Monokuman had on his.

Still, nothing about her appearance really answered his questions, and one of them leaves his mouth without thinking. "Who is this person?"

Monokuman's gaze snaps away from the masked girl to look at Minoru, staring at him for a few seconds before looking back down at the masked girl. "... This is..."

"Monogirl." The girl doesn't look up from the phone as she gave her answer. "Monokuman's trusty sidekick."

Minoru looked away from the masked girl to look at Monokuman, as if he would offer some sort of explanation, but he was still glaring down at the other as he spoke. "... I wouldn't exactly say trusty..."

Monogirl glares up at Monokuman in return, that childish pout still remaining, before looking back down at the phone in her hand. "... Man, these texts are super weird... "You put one of my friends here thinking they couldn't escape, only to realize you were wrong just too late. You have three hours, detective"." She then shivers, holding the phone out to Monokuman as she did. "It's kind of ominous..."

Minoru gives a small scoff as Monokuman grabs the phone, the light from it causing the visible parts of the masked man's face to somehow look paler. "Kid, that's kind of the point..."

"... Detective, which prison was Kaito Momota held in?"

Minoru's eyes snap back to Monokuman, humming for a second in thought before he answered. "... You mean Two-Face, right? I think it was at Silverhold? Why are you asking-?"

Before Minoru could even finish, Monokuman tosses the phone back towards Minoru, walking towards the rooftop's edge, gesturing for Monogirl to follow. "It's the answer to the riddle. The "friend" they're speaking of is Kaito Momota. We'll get there in a few minutes. I'll call you when I'm done taking care of the bomb."

Minoru barely caught the phone, almost falling over in the process as he almost juggled it in his hands. When he looked back up, Monokuman was already gone, with Monogirl standing at the edge of the rooftop, shrugging a bit as she gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry about leaving so suddenly... But if it makes you feel any better, he does it to everyone."

Minoru says nothing, only watching as Monogirl jumped off the roof, supposedly to follow Monokuman to Silverhold prison and deactivate the bomb there. "... I'm working with a bunch of crazy kids..."

###### 

"Are you always like this whenever you're out in the costume?"

Shuichi glances at Himiko for a moment, his eyes still narrowed a bit, before facing forward again, trying his best to focus on the grate in front of him. "Like what?"

Himiko, once again, gives Shuichi a childish pout, looking at the air grate in front of them as well as she spoke. "I dunno... You're kind of acting like a big, old, grumpy bear..."

Shuichi can't help the small chuckle that leaves his mouth as he finally clamps his hands on the side of the grate, the small smile he gives more reserved than his usual ones. "Really now? Then I guess I fit my role quite well."

"I don't think Monokuma was like that, though." Himiko watches as Shuichi rips off the grate in a few seconds with a little effort, before setting it down gently on the ground below. "... But I think he could have done that if he wanted to."

Shuichi's smile is gone now as he looks into the air duct leading inside the building, looking inside as he slowly nodded his head, before looking back at Himiko. "Remember what I said. Once we're inside, we do not talk unless we absolutely need to, alright?"

The masked man doesn't move until Himiko nods her head, crawling into the air duct slowly so he would barely make a noise, lowering the visor over his left eye so he could see in the darkness before moving forward. He wasn't surprised by the sudden noise behind him, as he already knew that it was simply Himiko crawling into the vent, lowering a similar visor over her own left eye so she too could see in the dark.

For the next two minutes, the only sound the two made was when they either touched the air vent's bottom too hard, or when Himiko nearly tripped on her cape, a string of curses leaving her mouth before she moved forward. Shuichi only stops once the sound of hissing and beeping makes its way to his ears.

_(... That's the bomb, I'm certain of it.)_

Sure enough, after crawling forward for a few seconds more, he finds the bomb. It was the size of a pencil case, yet it was decorated in wires and green question marks. On the front of it is what seemed like a digital countdown that said it had 5 minutes and 29 seconds before the bomb detonated.

Shuichi crawled so that he sat behind it before picking it up, ignoring how Himiko kept a safe distance away from him as he raised a hand to the side of his mask.

Before he had left, Miu had told Shuichi about what she had done to the Monokuman mask, apparently installing a wireless device similar to a phone there so he could call people without a cellphone, as well as scrambling the connection so no one would be able to trace it back to him.

It took him a few seconds to recall the button that Miu said connected to her phone, and only after a few seconds that he pushed it did her voice make its way into his ears. _"So you're finally using the phone I put into your mask? Fucking finally!"_

_(You've only just put it into my mask...)_

Instead of saying that, Shuichi gently picked up the bomb, carefully looking it over as he whispered. "Miu, did you ever develop some sort of bomb while working for Team Danganronpa?"

_"W-Well... Y-Yeah, so what if I did?!"_

"Himiko and I just found one, how do you deactivate it?"

_"Seriously? Fucking hell... Okay, so, there should be a red wire near the top left corner of the bomb..."_

Shuichi shifted the bomb in his hand so that the top left corner was visible, removing one Monorang from his hand as he moved it. "... Miu, there's about five red wires here."

_"I know, I know! Just let me finish, for fucks sake! It's the one closest to the timer, you fucking lunatic!"_

Shuichi made sure that he was looking at the correct wire, before using the Monorang to cut through it, small sparks falling to the bottom of the air duct before they fizzle out. "... Okay, what's next?"

_"Next, there should be a green wire at the bottom right corner of the... Holy shit!"_

Shuichi flinched at Miu's loud voice, raising a hand to the side of his head as he grimaced. "Miu? What's going-?"

_"Kiibo, holy fuck! Kiibo's getting up, holy-!"_

Her voice grew more muffled, although the sounds of screaming could be heard in the distance. Shuichi's eyes widened just a bit, yet it wasn't due to the screaming, but more so due to the bomb still in his hand.

4 minutes and 11 seconds remain.

4 minutes and 10 seconds.

4 minutes and 9 seconds...

_"... U-Uhm, Shuichi, you still there?"_

"K-Kaede?!" Shuichi drops the bomb in his hand, almost allowing it to slam into the air duct's floor before Himiko catches it. "Where have you been?!"

_"Th-That's not important right now! Miu said that you guys had a bomb, is that true?!"_

"W-Well..." Shuichi glances down at Himiko, who only stares down at the bomb in her hands with a mix of horror, before holding his hand out towards it. "Y-Yeah, Himiko's holding it right now."

_"Okay, since Miu is... Well... Busy, she told me to give you some more instructions. She said that you have to cut the green wire farthest from the timer next."_

Shuichi nodded, even though Kaede couldn't see it, moving Himiko's hands a bit so that it revealed the wire, before quickly cutting it with the Monorang. "Done. Next?"

The sound of screaming is heard on the other side of the phone, some of Miu's panicked screaming mixed in, before Kaede speaks once again. _"Sh-She said to cut the red wire right below the timer, before quickly cutting the blue one above the timer... Apparently, if you don't do it fast enough, it automatically explodes."_

_(Wh-Why did Miu have to make these things so deadly?!)_

"... Alright." Shuichi made sure to find both wires before raising the Monorang, looking towards Himiko this time before doing so. "Stay still. We have to do this fast." 

Before Himiko could respond, Shuichi quickly cut the wires. Right when he finished cutting the blue wire, sparks fell to the ground and the timer disappeared. 

"... Do you think that it-?"

Before Himiko could finish her sentence, a piece of paper pops out of the bomb, a ding resounding across the air vents, causing Himiko to flinch but not drop the bomb, while Shuichi gave a quick yell in surprise.

_"Shuichi? Are you okay? What happened?"_

Shuichi said nothing for a few seconds as he stared down at the paper, before snatching it out of the machine, quickly reading it over as he put the Monorang back on his belt. "... "The next location of the detonation is at my old creator's home. Where they took away my memories only to fill me up with fake ones to the point it felt like dense foam. You have one hour.""

"O-One hour?! This one nearly took us a hour to disarm..."

Shuichi glances up from the paper to look at Himiko, raising an unseen eyebrow before speaking. "No, it took us a few minutes to actually disarm the thing. It took us half a hour to get here because we had to stop a mugging that you saw."

Himiko attached the bomb to her belt as she narrowed her eyes at Shuichi, the red visor she wore over her eye seeming to glow a bit as she did. "So what? You wanted to stop it too."

"... Yeah, and I'm glad we did..." Shuichi's voice trailed off as he looked back down at the paper, only to finally realize that he didn't answer Kaede's question. "O-Oh, sorry Kaede. We're fine. Just a bit spooked, that's all." 

After a few seconds of getting no answer, worry began to creep into the young man's heart, as there wasn't even any screams resounding from the other side of the phone anymore. "... Kaede? Miu? You guys there?"

_"... S-Sorry, I had to leave for a second to grab something for Maki. She's helping Kiibo... I don't even know what he's doing right now. I think he's waking up? It seems so violent... I want to say that I can't believe Team Danganronpa did this to him, but..."_

_(... Wait a minute. Team Danganronpa...)_

"Kaede, tell Miu to be ready in a bit. We're heading to another location for the next bomb."

"We are? Where are we going?"

Shuichi pressed another button on the side of his mask to turn off the call before crawling towards Himiko, moving quickly so that he went ahead of her before speaking. "The Team Danganronpa building."

###### 

It takes awhile for Shuichi to find the correct window to get into, yet it was more difficult to find the right entry point. Even with dozens of buildings around, it seemed difficult to find one both at the correct height and angle for entry.

"Are you sure that we should actually do this..? I mean, we are trying to get rid of Team Danganronpa..."

Shuichi glances down at Himiko as he took the line launcher off his belt, taking a few seconds to think of a proper response before turning back towards the Team Danganronpa building. "... We do, but that doesn't mean that anyone working there has to die."

_(Death is just an escape, but it was what you wanted once, right? The perfect execution for the ultimate detective...)_

Shuichi's frown deepened as that thought entered his mind, quickly shaking his head to get rid of it before facing Himiko once again. "They have to face judgement here for their crimes, and I'm not allowing whatever hellhole they end up in to do it for us."

"..." Himiko gave a reluctant sigh as she took a line launcher off her own belt, glancing behind her to make sure that there was actually a wall it could attach to before facing forward again. "Alright... How do you know that the bomb has to be here anyway?"

"Oh, that? It was easy, actually." Shuichi removed a Monorang off his belt, clutching it tightly in his white gloved hand as he raised the line launcher with his other one. "The bomb has to be placed in a room that doesn't have many people work inside it a lot, or they risk the chance of an early discovery. It also has to be in a place where they wouldn't be caught setting up a bomb. In the conference room during the conference, the Riddler had the chance to set up a bomb without being seen due to the crowd, and everyone had been evacuated from the room once the bomb down the street was set off."

"Nyeh... I guess it is easy to figure that out if you're an ultimate detective..."

An embarrassed look seems to overcome the man's face at Himiko's words, barely able to get a few words to leave his mouth. "Y-Yeah, I guess..." 

Before Himiko could say anything else, he pushed the button on the line launcher, causing it to shoot two wires out of it, one embedding itself into the wall behind him and neatly through the window into the opposite wall inside the building.

He ignored the stinging pain in his side as he slid across the wire while holding the line launcher with one hand, careful to slow down before he hit the window so he wouldn't crash into it. He landed on the window just as Himiko shot her own line launcher, the wires shooting out of it only a few feet away from his own.

He ignored it for now, instead using the Monorang to cut a circle into the glass, just big enough for him to squeeze through. Once he was done, he was careful to make sure the glass landed gently on the carpet in front of him, sliding it to the side a bit before stepping inside.

Even in the darkness and with no one inside, the room is still suffocating to the masked man. He nearly flinches once he sees the small holes in the wall, remnants from the weapon Korekiyo used while attacking people at the press conference. 

Quickly, he forces himself to look away. Now was not the time for recalling such memories, but for him to look for the bomb.

It didn't take that long to find it, it was tucked away under one of the tables that was decorated with food for the reporters that were at the conference earlier, still with plates and old food strewn all over it. Shuichi bent over to examine it, raising a hand to the side of the mask to call Miu as he read the timer, which said there were 10 minutes and 4 seconds remaining, her voice filling his ears a few seconds later. _"Yo, I guess you found another bomb, right?"_

"Yes, but I'm guessing that the procedure here is the same as the last one?"

_"Well... Kind of, except for the last part. The last two wires you're supposed to cut are always different, I just said the last two wires last time in a panic."_

"What do you mean you-?"

Shuichi stopped as something cold and sharp wrapped around the front of his throat, the presence of someone behind him now obvious once he finally focused on his surroundings. "... Gotcha, didn't I, Monokuman?"

_"... Hey, are you still there?"_

"... I don't know who you're talking to, but you might as well answer them."

Shuichi mentally cursed himself, almost biting his lip so hard that it bled. Slowly, though, he forces himself to go less tense. Himiko was in the room, right? And he didn't hear the other person do something to them, so maybe she was hiding and waiting for the perfect opportunity to help him?

_(... If she's hasn't been found yet, then I can trust Himiko to help me out. After all, she wouldn't be a "trusty sidekick" if she just left...)_

With that thought, he relaxes, and raises the Monorang in his hand as he whispered. "... Tell me what to do."

_"A-Are you sure? You sound-"_

"Yes, I'm sure. Tell me."

The sound of whimpering resounds from the phone as the person behind him chuckles, the blade moving away from his throat just a bit. "My my my, you're so mean. You really are just a grumpy bear... It's honestly pretty adorable."

As Miu rattles off the first instructions, and Shuichi follows it by cutting the first wire, he glances over his shoulder to see the shorter man, ignoring the devilish grin on the other's face, which, for once, isn't hidden by the bandanna he wore. "... Why are you doing this, Kokichi?"

The other man gave a small snicker as he gently poked the other man's nose. "Usually, I don't like it when people call me that, but I guess for you, I can make an exception... As for why I'm doing this... It's just because it's fun!"

Another wire cut, and with it comes another question. "Really? I thought you worked for Team Danganronpa. Setting up a bomb here doesn't really help them."

Silence fills the room for a few minutes, tense and uncomfortable before, suddenly, Ouma throws his head back and laughs. 

The sound of it almost causes Shuichi to shiver. It is not like the ones he had given during the killing game, even when he was keeping up his mastermind guise. No, it was the laugh of a man that had truly lost his mind. Long and drawn out, rising with shaky crescendos before falling flat and then higher again.

As quick as the laugh begins, it stops, a pout appearing on Ouma's face this time as he looked down at Shuichi. "Wow, and I thought my jokes were bad." He then sits down on the ground, still holding the blade against Shuichi's throat as he placed his chin on his hand. "I never said that I was working for Team Danganronpa. Oh, it'd be easy to lie and say that I was, though. Oh, oh! Or maybe I'm lying about lying to Team Danganronpa! I have quite the reputation for lying, you know." That downright evil smiles returns to face as he sat up straight, his hand clenched into a fist as he placed it on his leg. "But if I were to not lie about one thing, it's that I wasn't the one that set up the bomb here."

Shuichi shuts his eyes for a moment, trying to ignore the pain from a growing headache. He had forgotten how confusing it was to talk to Ouma, only to be reminded at the worst possible time. "... And you know who did?"

Somehow, Ouma's smile seems to grow, his teeth almost shining in the dark. "Maaaaybe! I also maybe know that they live down at the old apartment building near the first bomb, and I also maybe know that I warned the security guard that you were here before I got up here myself!"

"..." Shuichi doesn't say anything, only listening to Miu say what the last two wires he needed to cut were before cutting them in quick succession. Once he was done and the timer turned off, he placed the Monorang back on his belt. "... And you're not lying?"

Ouma shook his head, nearly bouncing back onto his feet with no effort. "Nope! Scout's honor! Here, in good faith, I'll even give you this killer scythe I got from that cult freak!"

Shuichi glances down at the scythe's blade, which was still wrapped around his throat, the bloodstains a bit more prominent this close up, before humming just a bit. "... Alright, I guess Monogirl can do her thing now."

The masked man isn't looking at Ouma, but he can already tell that a confused look takes over the other man's face due to Shuichi's words. "Who the hell is-?"

Before he could finish, he gave a small yell in surprise, and Shuichi leans back, grabbing the scythe's handle before Ouma is tugged back due to the contraption Himiko placed on his back. It was something Miu had made while he was unconscious, some sort of circular device that shot out wires and attached whoever it was put on to the ceiling.

Ouma had easily let go of the scythe, allowing Shuichi to hold it as he quickly stood up, the deactivated bomb in his other hand, nodding towards Himiko before watching her run towards the hole in the window. 

Shuichi had followed only seconds later after attaching the bomb to his belt, ignoring how Ouma's shocked look turned into a laughing fit. He only manages to grab the line launcher right outside the window and is barely across the wire just as armed men ran into the room. 

They run in expecting a masked man dressed up as the company's mascot, but all they find there is a supposedly dead man hanging from the ceiling, laughing his head off as he watches the two masked people run away from building to building.

###### 

"No no no no no..." The Riddler paces back and forth in the small room, spinning the cane in his hand just a bit, the sharp blade from the tip of the question mark handle almost nipping his chin every time. "This isn't how it's supposed to go... Monokuman didn't seem smart enough to disarm the bombs, Joker told me that it was impossible to do so..." 

He then glances towards the seat in front of him, where the bound girl sat, fast asleep. He stared at her for a few seconds longer before sighing, forcing himself to look away.

He couldn't look at her for long, each time he did, a creeping sense of guilt made its way deep into his mind, rooting itself there and getting rid of all rational thought. It was obvious that she didn't want to be around him, that much was obvious. Even when he had told her who he was, she simply didn't believe him. So of course he had to tie her up and keep her from crying out, or else it would warn the other people inside the building.

If he had any other option, he would take it, but the Riddler had no choice. As she was on Bullseye's hit list, and he had to keep her from getting killed. 

He had to save his sister, just this once. 

The Riddler is just about to lay down his head, perhaps being able to catch a few hours of sleep, before he hears it.

"... I am the one that was supposed to survive, but did not."

The Riddler's head shoots up at the deep voice that enters the room, his grip on the cane tightening as he stood, looking around the dark apartment in a panicked state. "... Who's there?" 

This time, the voice that spoke was a bit of a higher pitch. "In the end, I was naught but a puppet made by them and left to rot."

"I said show yourselves!"

As the Riddler backed up, he froze up as he hit something. He was too far away from the wall, he knew this, and the thing he ran into seemed to move just a bit, but barely. "... You are Rantaro Amami."

Hearing that name, that awful, awful name, the Riddler spun around, swinging the bladed side of the cane towards the other person. In response, the other held up a blade of their own, a scythe, to block it. "Shut up! Don't say that name!"

The person in the dark does not respond to him, and barely moves under the applied weight of the cane. They only look around the Riddler towards the tied up girl. "Monogirl, take care of the hostage, I'll deal with Rantaro."

The Riddler grit his teeth, raising his cane once again to swing at the other, not even bothering to look behind him in his rage. "Rantaro Amami is gone! He's been erased too many times!"

The other person simply ducked under the cane's swing before jumping forward, planting a solid fist onto the Riddler's stomach, causing the man to stumble back, his hat falling off in the process. 

This time, as the other walked forward, the single light-bulb finally illuminated them, revealing the familiar costumed man. 

The Riddler's eyes widened just a bit before he scowls, grabbing the wooden box on the table behind him before throwing it towards the masked man. "You! You've ruined everything!"

Monokuman simply ducks, the wooden box missing its target completely, his eyes narrowed behind the mask he wore. "... No, I haven't." He then jumps forward, and grabs Rantaro's head with his black gloved hand. "Not yet."

The Riddler is unable to stop what happens next. It feels like an out of body experience, like he's only watching as the masked man slams his face into the table, easily breaking it and probably his nose as well. He is dragged back to his body only to fall unconscious, finally able to feel the sweet embrace of rest for the first time in what felt like days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: Rantaro was going to be the Music Meister before I decided that it would be too ridiculous for this au. It wasn't that hard to think of another villain that he could be, though, which ended up being the Riddler!
> 
> and yes Monogirl's costume is based off Monomi. I couldn't really think of something that clever for her name, but it was still fun to write nonetheless 
> 
> Also! I'm gonna change the title of this fanfic after this chapter is posted. I don't like the original title, and I originally made it at 3 am thinking that I wouldn't continue this fic past chapter 1. The title of this fic will now be "Beautiful Lie", for reasons I will not say right now but will eventually be revealed.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Feedback is welcomed and appreciated, and I hope you all have a nice morning/afternoon/evening!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait guys! I've been busy with other stuff and I was stumped with writer's block for a bit but finally. after nearly two months. We Are Back
> 
> onto the disclaimers!
> 
> i own nothing
> 
> now onto the fic!

_Let me tell you something about me. Life is the most valuable thing we have, right? When you take a life, that should mean something, right? When I killed my brother, I felt nothing. No guilt, no remorse, nothing. And he was the one person in this world I ever gave two damns about. They lied to me about the importance of life. The only life anybody really cares about is their own and I don't even care about that. You understand? I'm just killing time, waiting to die._

* * *

 

 

Police sirens seems to reverberate in the night, the lights atop each car illuminating the sidewalks and causing the people trying to hide in the alleys to scatter like mice.

To an outsider, the police cars seem to have no general direction, all of them scattering to different areas in the city. To the many policemen, though, there was one destination in mind, one single goal, and that was in the direction of the Team Danganronpa building.

In actuality, though, it was not that building they were going to stop at, no, they were stopping at the apartment complex a down the street from it. 

She watches through the window as the many policemen exit their cars in front of it, holding up their weapons and readying themselves to storm the building only to stop in surprise at what was in front of them. 

The Riddler is hanging upside down by a thick rope around his foot, which hangs attached to the window, with the very bomb he had armed strapped to his chest. While the man is awake, he does not struggle or seem agitated, he seems quite calm, even going so far as looking down at the police officers in front of him with a smile. 

She does not remain by the window that much longer to see Riddler get arrested, only enough to see a little girl run out of an alleyway towards one of the cops, and two shadows jumping out of the same alleyway to the rooftops before disappearing.

The Director scowls at the sight of it, twirling her now pink hair as she turned around to face the other people in the room, eyeing each one carefully before she finally allows some words to leave her mouth. "... I hate to state the obvious, but it's quite clear now that we need to do something about the "Bear Issue"."

Two-Face gives a loud, almost mocking laugh at The Director's words, having to grip the table in front of him so he won't fall out of his chair. "We're gonna call that thing a "Bear Issue"?! It's a man in a costume, for fucks sake!"

The Director narrows her eyes at the half masked man's words, and he instantly stops laughing, any trace of humor he had before gone in an instant. "... Regardless of what we're calling that thing..." Her voice is lower this time as she speaks, as if she was scared of someone outside of the room overhearing her. "It's taken out both Scarecrow and Riddler-"

"And put Two-Face in jail!" Joker nearly jumps out of his chair, holding a hand to his chest as he gazed off to the side in an almost heroic manner. "Where yours truly then had to break him out, and what a breakout it was!"

Two-Face narrows his eyes at the pale man, clenching something in his hand a bit tighter as he opens his mouth to yell back at the Joker before someone else speaks. "You had to sacrifice Scarecrow to get to him, and you were hanging upside down from the ceiling tonight because of the masked man."

The Joker, as well as everyone else in the room, stares at the new speaker for a moment in shocked silence, before Joker suddenly gives out another boisterous laugh. "Ha, I guess I forgot about that! Whoopsy daisy! But, you know..." His laugh suddenly stops, yet his grin remains, almost baring his teeth as he leaned a bit forward towards the other person. "If the first thing you're going to talk about is my mistakes, how about yours? Like how you can no longer protect your precious little-"

His voice is suddenly cut off as the person that spoke before suddenly stood up, almost moving in a blur before they stood right next to Joker, one hand tight around his neck while they rose him into the air to face them. The mask that covered their mouth seemed to shine in the little light provided, the long jacket they wore gently brushing against what was once the Joker's chair as they glared at the other man. "... If you plan on touching even a hair on her, I will not hesitate to end you right now, clown."

"Hey hey now!" Kanaloa nearly jumps in her seat as she swings it back and forth, the people sitting next to her having to duck a bit to avoid the new scythe in her hands. "We shouldn't be fighting! We should all be friends, and work together to get rid of the bear!" She suddenly stops mid turn, and claps her hands together, bowing her head just a bit in prayer as she shut her eyes. "That is what God is saying..."

At first, the masked person does not move, the only sound that fills the air is Joker's choked laughs, before they simply drop the pale man to the ground. They stare down at the Joker as he tries to catch his breath between his laughs, shaking so badly that he could barely even sit as he rubs a hand against his neck. "W-Whoa... Over react m-much..?" 

The only response they get out of the masked person is the narrowing of their eyes, and the Joker giggles in response, muffling it behind a gloved hand, his wide grin no longer visible. "O-Okay, okay I-I get it..! No h-hairs harmed..."

The masked person glares down at the Joker for a minute longer before turning away, adjusting the jacket on their body as they spoke to the Director. "... I'm done here. If any of you need me, you know where I am."

Before the Director can respond, the masked person turns around and swiftly leaves the room, nearly slamming the door behind them, causing someone else, a man with mechanical wings on his back, to give a rough sigh. "So much for getting along..."

The person to the winged man's right only grunts in agreement, twirling the unlit cigarette in their hands as they glanced towards the winged man. "Sorry to disappoint, big guy, but expecting all of us to get along is like expecting Monokuman to give up. It just won't happen..."

The person to the winged man's left shakes their head, leaning forward a bit to look at the person who spoke before, rapping a gloved hand against the table in front of them to catch everyone's attention. "While that may be true, we now could easily ruin the network Monokuman has set up to do what he does. We all know he has Miu, Kiibo, and Executioner with him, all the necessary tools to at least throw him off long enough to kill him."

Joker, from his spot on the floor, suddenly stops laughing, easily getting up to his knees to glare at the gloved person, the upper half of his face barely visible from where he was. "... Kill him? You say it like it should be unceremoniously. Like you're going to do it..." He raises a hand, and quickly snaps his fingers. "Just like that."

The Director's eyes narrow as she glares down at the Joker. She was not surprised by his words, as he has had a strange fascination with Monokuman since he appeared, yet his words were still concerning to her. "... What exactly are you implying, Joker? That we should make a big deal out of killing him? That we should parade his dead body around like a float?"

"No no no, of course not! It's just that none of you are seeing the bigger picture!" He slams his hands on the table, easily pulling himself to his feet that way, nearly jumping. "Monokuman isn't going to go down quietly. His entire existence is like one big firework show, starts off quiet and a bit calm, before... BANG!" He slams his hands into the table, causing a few people around the table to flinch as he laughed manically. "He goes out with a bang, becoming one of the most memorable things to come out of Team Danganronpa!"

"... And like all the mistakes Team Danganronpa has ever made, I will be the one to get rid of them. Especially if they are my mistakes." The Director turns away from the Joker before he can respond, turning to face the other people in the room as she spoke. "Bullseye, I leave it to you to... Convince Executioner to go along with our plan. If Team Danganronpa tries to assign you to anything else, ignore them."

Bullseye did nothing but simply nod their head in obedience, after all, they had no reason to defy the ultimate despair's wishes.

"Good... Everyone else may go about their business as usual, this meeting is over."

Before anyone else could move, Joker quickly moved from his spot at the table, moving so that he was now besides the winged man, who was still sitting down, wrapping an arm around the other's shoulders as he spoke. "Mothman, my old friend, buddy, amigo..! I want to talk to you about something, can you wait here for a bit?"

The winged man looked at the pale man in pure confusion, yet it is mostly unseen by the goggles and fabrics around his face. Yet he eventually gives a smile in return, oblivious to the growing scowl on the Director's face. "Of course. Mothman always makes time for his friends!"

The Joker let out a dark chuckle at the larger man's words, nearly swinging on him now as he whispered. "That's... Fantastic". In a second, his head snapped to everyone else in the room, who watched the interaction with wide eyes, his own eyes narrowed as he yelled. "What the hell are you all still doing here?! Didn't the Director say the meeting was over?! Leave!"

Most of the occupants of the room merely shrugged at the younger man's actions, with Kanaloa nearly skipping out of the room, her scythe clipping on the door frame. Some remained for a little while longer, Two-Face gripping the object in his hand just a bit tighter before leaving the room, mumbling under his breath.

The Director was the last one to remain in the room besides Joker and Mothman, gripping both of her arms tightly as she watched the two. "... Joker, if you are planning anything, I hope that it doesn't make this all worse. Monokuman isn't the only thing we have to worry about now..."

Joker used his free hand to wave the Director off, not looking away from Mothman for a second. "Yeah yeah, I know. I'll try to keep it on the down-low this time, no bombs. I promise!"

The Director stared at the Joker for a few minutes longer before sighing, shaking her head as she walked out of the room. "Very well, Joker. For now, I will not interfere with your plans, but at the first sign that you're out of line, I'm stepping in, got it?"

The last thing she sees before the door shuts is the Joker's more violent movements, his arm digging into Mothman's neck a bit more, while the larger man didn't seem to mind at all. "I get it, jeez! You're not my mom, so stop talking to me like you are..! Now then..." As she shuts the door, she barely catches the grin growing on Joker's face, baring his teeth as he looked up at Mothman. "... Let's get down to business, Mothman."

###### 

Shuichi takes a deep breath, adjusting his feet on the mat before swinging, with his opponent swiftly ducking underneath his fist. He jumped back before the other could counter, readjusting his arms so that they could cover his body from a blow that he knew would come.

Sure enough, Maki quickly retaliated by swiftly kicking Shuichi's side, a hint of a smirk on her face as she did. "... Is it just me, or are you getting slower?"

Shuichi only grunted in response as he was kicked, grimacing as the scar on his side stung for just a bit before the pain quickly disappears. Once it does, he quickly steps forward, swinging his right fist, only for it to be caught half swing. 

He was only fazed for a moment before he realizes that Maki was swinging her free fist towards his face. Quickly, he raises his arm, having her fist hit his arm instead of his face, now numb to the pain from months upon months of sparring.

She seems fazed by this, as if she was expecting him to catch her fist, not allow it to hit him in someway. Still, Shuichi doesn't take this as an opportunity to hit her, knowing from past experience that she would recover quickly, instead using this time to free his fist from Maki's hand before stepping back once again. 

_(Her movements kind of remind me of how Kanaloa fights... Except without the scythe. I'll have to ask Maki for some sort of weapons training at some point-)_

He's dragged out of his thoughts as Maki once again runs forward, this time pushing Shuichi back by kicking his chest, causing the raven haired boy to stumble back a bit, losing his footing for just a second. This second is all Maki needs though, as she quickly sweeps Shuichi off his feet, causing the other to fall onto his back.

As Shuichi's vision refocuses, he sees that Maki's foot is over his chest, a scowl adorning her face as she glared down at him. "What's wrong? You're clearly distracted, and you know that can get you killed."

Shuichi gave the other a flat look in return, gently pushing Maki's foot off his chest before sitting up, wiping the sweat off his forehead as he shrugged. "Nothing's wrong, I've just been thinking lately."

He nearly jumps as a sharp, jagged laugh echos across the cavern, followed by a voice equally jarring. "Yeah right! About what? About what other weird costume you're going to dress up in?"

Shuichi doesn't pay any mind to Miu's comment, and neither does he notice how it's suddenly cut off by Maki's glare. No, all he can think about were Kokichi's words from a few nights ago as he stares down at his clenched fist.

_(He's crazy because of Team Danganronpa now, I know that, but is everything he said a lie? If he's telling the truth, then maybe he's not working for Team Danganronpa..? Augh, that doesn't make any sense. If he's not working for them, then why is he-?)_

"You have that look on your face."

Shuichi's head snapped up a Maki's voice, only to meet the other's questioning gaze. He can't help but stare at it for a few moments in shock before looking off to the side in some attempt to avoid it, trying to find something else to look at. Eventually, he settles on the heart monitor next to Kiibo's bed before he finally speaks. "What look?"

He hears Maki give a frustrated sigh, and Shuichi watches as the small line on the heart monitor moved up and down about five times before she speaks again. "The one you had in the killing game whenever you tried to figure out whether or not Kokichi was lying." He hears her scoff before he hears her begin to walk off the training mat, mumbling under her breath as she moved. "In the state he is now, I wouldn't believe a single thing he says..."

Shuichi doesn't say anything in response, only taking a deep, almost tired breath as he got to his feet, stretching just a bit before walking off the mat, ignoring the sharp pain in his side once again. He walks over to the pair of shoes he left to the side of the mat, as well as a cellphone that he used for things not relating to Monokuman. He didn't really know why he got it, since not many people had his number, and the people that could call him mostly contacted him as Monokuman.

So it surprised him once he turned on the phone only to find that someone had spammed him with multiple text messages, the phone making a "ding" noise resound around the cave with each text that appeared on screen.

Shuichi scrambled to find the button to turn down the volume on his phone, or at least the notifications, not noticing the footsteps of two people approaching him in his panic. "... You know, for someone who tries to be quiet all the time, you make a lot of noise..."

Shuichi could feel his eyes narrow just a bit as he found the correct button, not yet looking over his shoulder as he mumbled out a reply. "It's not like I'm in costume right now, Himiko..." His demeanor shifts as he reads through all the texts he got, all of them from the same person, going from slightly annoyed to shocked within seconds.

_Uncle: hey Shuichi, how you've been? Sorry about leaving so suddenly the other day, but I think you understand why, with the bomb threat and all._

_Uncle: the offer for coffee still stands though. I understand if you don't want to go if you're busy, I can only imagine what team danganronpa is doing to you._

_Uncle: If you get the time though, text me back. I can't wait to talk to talk to you again, and I hope we can catch up soon._

"... Hey, isn't your uncle that source inside the police force you were talking about?"

Shuichi nearly dropped the phone in shock at the sudden close voice, spinning around so fast that his now slightly longer hair almost slapped himself in the face. He tensed up just a bit, as if ready for battle, before relaxing once he saw it was just Kaede behind him in her Executioner armor, minus the mask of course, with Himiko walking away to her own workbench. In response, Kaede took a step back, a concerned look taking over her face as she watched how Shuichi reacted to her just speaking to him. Yet before she could say anything, he quickly replied, pocketing his phone as he spoke. "Y-Yeah, he's a detective..." He then gives a forced, almost nervous laugh, bending down to put his shoes on his feet. "I guess that was one thing about my past that Team Danganronpa didn't make up..."

He doesn't catch the way Kaede exchanges a concerned look with Himiko before looking back down at him, a small frown making its way onto her face as she spoke. "So? Are you going to respond?"

"Ah..." Once he puts his shoes back on, he begins to make his way towards his workbench, looking down at his phone to check the time as he moved. "Well... I have about five more hours until sunset, so I was hoping to look over some cases that have popped up recently to see if I can get anymore hints on Bullseye, as well as some more information on the hostage Rantaro had to see if there were any connections there. I also wanted to check in on Kiibo's condition and see if it improved since last night, since it is the first time he woke up. And if I have any extra time left, I might-"

He stops moving as a hand wraps around his arm, one that is cold to the touch and almost feels like metal. For a split second, he thinks that Kiibo had grabbed it, before quickly remembering that Kiibo was both unconscious and not a robot in the real world, only for him to simply turn around and see that it was Kaede who had grabbed it. 

For a second, both simply stare into the other's eyes, and all Shuichi can see in Kaede's was something like a black hole, with only a hint of warmth remaining in them. Gone was the pianist that had encouraged him during the killing game and made him confront his fears, for she was taken away by the very people that created her in the first place. In her place was something worse, something that had the will to kill whoever was in their way.

_(Yet you can say the same thing for yourself. It's not like you're still the detective that survived the killing game. No, you're someone else entirely now, someone who responds with nothing but violence and brutality, and it's no one's fault but your own.)_

Eventually, Shuichi no longer feels the cold metal hand wrapped around his arm, and Kaede finally looks away, apparently finding what she was looking for. "... Shuichi, what are you going to do after all of this?"

The question stumps the young man for a moment, not understanding what the blond meant until he realized where she was looking. He tears his gaze away from her to look at the Monokuman costume resting on the seat behind his workbench. "... I..." He scrambles for an answer before simply shaking his head, looking down at the cave floor as he crossed his arms. "... I don't know."

_(What am I going to do after Team Danganronpa is gone..? Hell, how long will that even take?)_

He hears Kaede give a small, almost tired sigh before she goes silent once again, only to speak a few seconds later. "... I think you should give the whole Monokuman thing a rest for now. And just... Go and live, at least for one day. We can all hold the fort here on our own."

Shuichi is already opening his mouth to protest as he looks back up to face Kaede, preparing some sort for argument over how he should be inside the cave, only to stop once he sees the almost sad stare she was giving him, freezing up completely as she quietly spoke. "... Shuichi, please..."

As he stared at her, he finally recalled something about Kaede, something that she had first told him as they made it back to the cave for the first time after they had stopped Kaito from robbing the bank. About how she didn't even know if she had a family or not, and if she did have one, if they even cared about her. After all, what kind of family allows a member to sign up for a killing game and don't even look for her afterwards? Hell, she was probably jealous of him having at least one family member reach out to him while she had no one.

That realization strikes him like a lightning bolt, causing him to flinch just a bit before he looks back down at his phone to read over the text messages his uncle had sent.

"..." After a few minutes of silence, he finally texts something back before quickly pocketing the phone, forcing a small smile onto his face as he looks back up. "... Okay, I guess I'm going to meet him in about a hour. I trust you guys won't blow up the cave while I'm gone."

Kaede seems in shock for a moment over how quickly Shuichi gave up on his argument, yet she still manages to eventually give an almost sly smile in return. "Well, I can't promise that... But we'll make sure the explosion won't be noticed by anyone outside."

Shuichi faked a relieved sigh as he began to walk towards the cave's exit, grabbing the hoodie he had next to his workbench as he walked by it. "Well, that's a relief to hear. I'll be back in a-"

"Wait! Wait just a fucking minute!"

Shuichi, as well as everyone else in the cave besides Kiibo, froze up at the sudden voice, yet Miu didn't seem to notice it as she ran up to Shuichi, already out of breath from nearly tripping a few times. "S-Shuichi, d-do..." She stops talking for a moment to try and catch her breath once again before eventually giving up, cursing under her breath for a moment before speaking once again. "... D-Do you... Know how t-to drive..?"

###### 

"... So, Shuichi..."

Shuichi glances up from his coffee to look at his uncle across the table, who was glancing outside the window, a small spoon in hand as he looked. "... Where exactly did you get that motorcycle? Is it custom?"

Shuichi breathed a sigh of relief at that question. He couldn't properly recall whether or not he had a license before he signed up for the killing game, even though he already knew how to drive, and even if he didn't, his uncle was probably assuming that he got a license after the killing game ended. "Y-Yeah, it's, ah, custom made..."

Minoru hums as he spins the spoon in his hand just a bit before tearing his eyes away from the window, finally looking down at his nephew for the first time since the two sat down. "Really now? Where did you get it?"

At this, Shuichi began to panic just a bit, looking outside the window to the motorcycle in question as he tried to think of some answer. For now, it wasn't in the familiar black and white Monokuma had, but rather a jet black color, almost looking bulky. Miu had explained already that it was bulky until he pressed a button on the motorcycle, causing some sort of armor plating to extend out and cover the bike, revealing the black and white pattern underneath. 

Yet whether that worked or not, even Miu didn't know, she didn't even know whether or not the bike actually worked until Shuichi drove it to the cafe Minoru told him to go to. According to Miu, she had gotten the engine from the junkyard she usually went to for scraps for her other inventions, considering it lucky that it was even intact. 

_(Still, she did a really good job with it, I had no trouble riding it here, but I don't think Uncle Minoru would think 'I got it from a friend who I thought was dead!' is a good answer...)_

His thoughts were cut off as his uncle suddenly laughed, setting the spoon in his hand down onto the table as he shook his head. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrogate you like that. It's a force of habit." He then takes a long, drawn out sip of his coffee, much to Shuichi's horror as the man drank half a cup of the boiling liquid, before speaking again. "So, do you like the place I picked? Not a lot of people come here, but the quiet is nice."

It took a few seconds for the raven haired young man to snap out of his horror, looking around at the nearly empty coffee shop, save for the person working the counter, who was no longer visible, before turning back to Minoru. "It's... A nice change."

For the first time since he spoke to Minoru, he wasn't exactly lying. The only other times he experienced this sort of quiet was before Kaede appeared, where it was only him inside the cave looking over evidence relating to Team Danganronpa. Compared to the silence in the outside world though, it seemed more tranquil than the silence of the cave, like there was some malice hidden inside the cave that was absent outside. 

He doesn't add onto his statement though, he only allows Minoru to respond with a light chuckle as he nodded his head. "I'm gonna have to agree there, it's all a nice change from the office..." He takes another sip from his coffee, causing Shuichi to flinch once again before continuing. "... What exactly have you been doing since the..? Uhm..."

Even without finishing his sentence, Shuichi could already guess what his uncle was saying, already having an answer prepared. "I've been living with Himiko since the game ended and taking the occasional job. I got the reward money of course, but it's not like there's anything to do at home, so..."

"Himiko?" His uncle gave a raised eyebrow at the name, watching as Shuichi took a small sip of his own coffee as he mulled over his nephew's response. "... You mean Himiko Yumeno? The magician? How has she been since the show ended? Is she a good roommate? She seemed pretty lazy on TV."

Shuichi coughed a bit as the nearly boiling coffee burnt his throat just a bit, rubbing a hand against his throat for a second before speaking. "S-She's been fine... And she's a good roommate too... Why do you ask?"

Minoru gave a small chuckle as he reached over, patting his nephew's back a few times, as if that would help Shuichi out, one of the widest smiles he's ever seen on his uncle's face appearing as he spoke. "I just wanted to make sure that my nephew was okay with his roommate. I..." His smile wavered a bit as he laid back into his seat, picking his coffee cup back up. "... I'm sorry about not stopping you from signing up for that show. I know that it makes it look like I didn't care about you. But I do, alright? I-I care about you. A lot."

Shuichi stared up at his uncle for a moment, ignoring the burning sensation in his hand as the warmth from the coffee leaked through the cup. Yet it was the only thing that was keeping him down to Earth as his thoughts raced.

_(... Does he really? Or is he just saying that to... I dunno, get on my good side since I'm close to Team Danganronpa? Or maybe he really does care. Either way, I need to say something soon, or...)_

"... Uncle Minoru, I-"

His words were cut off as the door behind him slammed open, followed by ragged breaths and erratic footsteps. Shuichi barely had the chance to turn around before the person that entered sprinted past him, grabbing onto his uncle's shoulder as they screamed. "H-Help me! P-Please help me! M-My friend, h-he..!"

The person, a blond woman, was then reduced to sobs, her hair hiding her face from sight as she pulled on his uncle's shoulder some more to the point he nearly dropped his coffee. Quickly, before it came to that, he set it down on the table, giving Shuichi an apologetic look as he allowed the woman to drag him away. "It's alright, Miss. Show me where your friend is."

The woman turned just a bit, her hair finally moving away from her face, revealing who she was as well as the tears falling down her face. "T-Thank you so much, officer..!"

Shuichi's eyes widened once he saw the woman's face, setting the coffee in his hand onto the table as he stood. "Uncle Minoru, wait! She's-!"

Before he could finish, the woman had already dragged his uncle outside. He cursed under his breath as he dug his phone out of his pocket, dialing a number into it as he made his way outside. It took only a few rings before someone picked up the phone once he was outside. "Maki, I may have found out who Bullseye is, it's-"

_"Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to call you for nearly a half hour!"_

Shuichi was taken aback by her sudden hostility, narrowing his eyes just a bit, even if the other couldn't see him. "What's going on, then?"

_"It's Kaede, she's... Gone."_

"... Gone? What do you mean she's-?"

His voice was cut off as a gunshot echoed around him, causing him to freeze up for a moment in shock, nearly dropping his phone before he collects himself, grabbing the helmet he wore while riding his motorcycle as he ran by it, hanging up the phone as he did. He placed the helmet on his head as he moved in the direction he saw the woman drag his uncle to in some attempt to hide his identity from everyone else, ignoring the sharp pain in his side as he sprinted.

He stopped right in front of the mouth of the alleyway, the insides of it looking like the gaping maw of a lion, even in the setting sun. Yet Shuichi doesn't hesitate to run inside, occasionally jumping over turned over trashcans and piles of trash, the surrounding area becoming darker the further he got inside the alley.

It takes only a few seconds for him to make it to the source of the gunshot, and once he sees what the alleyway had hidden from him, he stops completely, his hidden eyes widening at the sight of it.

His uncle is on the ground, curled up on his side, a small pool of blood surrounding him. For a split second, Shuichi thinks that his uncle may be another victim added to Bullseye's hit-list until he hears a small groan come from the older man. He would go up to his uncle to see if the man had any fatal injuries if it weren't for the two people in front of him. 

The woman who dragged his uncle away stood almost right in front of him, her back to him as her hands were raised in the air, yet she doesn't seem to notice Shuichi just yet, instead keeping her focus on the armored person in front of his uncle, as well as the gun in their hand. "... Executioner, how long has it been since we've last seen you?"

The red light's on Kaede's helmet narrow as she tightens her grip on the gun, yet besides that, she remains silent, causing the other woman to sigh in annoyance. "Come on, don't be like that. Just put down the gun and come with us... That is why you're here, aren't you?"

Shuichi almost stepped forward when Kaede gave a sharp laugh, nearly stopping in his tracks at the sound. Nothing about her voice was showing the kind woman she was, all it hinted at was a cold, monotone person. "Why the hell would I want to help you after everything Team Danganronpa has done to me?" She waves her free hand around her, before pointing right at the blond woman in front of her. "And after what they've made you do..."

The blond woman finally lowered her arms as she sighed, as if the gun in the other's hand no longer had an affect on her. "What I've done? All I've done is eliminate everyone in Team Danganronpa's way."

"Even if one of those people is your father, Kirumi?"

Shuichi doesn't realize that he had even spoken until Kirumi turned around, signs of tears still on her face with the rest of her face seeming somewhat blank. 

Kaede, on the other hand, was clearly shocked, even behind the mask she wore, the red lights on it growing just a bit brighter. "... W-Why are you-?"

A resounding crack interrupts what Kaede is about to say, and nearly all of them move at once. Shuichi runs forward to tackle Kirumi to the ground, just in case whatever was fired hit her instead, while, out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kaede shield his uncle with her body in case whatever was shot came in her direction. 

Kirumi offers no resistance as Shuichi tackles her to the ground, almost as if she was allowing him to do so. Yet it quickly becomes clear that neither Shuichi nor Kirumi were the target as he hears Kaede give a mechanical yell in pain.

Shuichi looks up to see Kaede kneeling on the ground, her hand at her side, yet her gaze was looking down at the object that had hit her, almost seeming horrified at what she was looking at.

A shot put ball laid against the dirty ground of the alleyway, just a tad bit smaller than the one she had used to supposedly kill Rantaro in the killing game. 

Shuichi looks up to try and find the shooter, only to catch a glimpse of a small shadow retreating back into the darkness. He's about to get up to go after it before Kirumi moves out from under him, moving so fast that he could barely react as he was pinned to the ground. "... You were that man talking to the detective earlier, Shuichi? I almost didn't recognize you..."

He didn't say anything in response but try to struggle out of her grip, yet the helmet he wore restricted his movement, digging into his neck as he cursed under his breath. Eventually, he gave up, and tried to call out to the armored woman in front of him. "Kaede, help me..!"

Kirumi gave a sharp laugh at Shuichi's pleas, applying more pressure to dig the helmet further into his neck as she whispered into his ear. "Let me tell you a secret, Shuichi... Do you know why she doesn't seem like herself sometimes? Why she's even an assassin in the first place? Well, it's because it only takes one word, one single word, and her mind is ours once again... Do you want to know what that word is?"

Before Shuichi can even reply, the person from before drops out of the shadows, the reinforced tennis racket they used to hit shot put balls into their victim's skulls shining dully in the light as they moved. 

Bullseye pulls the hat he wears downwards just a bit to hide his face from sight before he speaks, his gruff baritone voice almost seeming to vibrate through the silence and into anyone's ear. "... Shot put."

Shuichi watches, unable to do anything as Kaede freezes up, the red lights on her mask shutting down for just a moment before turning back on. She shows none of the pain she felt before as she gets back to her feet, and then walks over to Kirumi and Shuichi. He can only manage to get one weak word out as the helmet he wore dug into his neck even more. "... K-Kaede..."

He has no chance to say anything else as Kirumi raises his head once more and then slams it into the ground multiple times, the impact from his head slamming into the helmet once already blurring his vision. It only takes a few seconds for him to realize that Kirumi was simply hitting his head more than twice out of show if anything.

Yet he doesn't feel any rage because of that, he only feels sadness as the last thing he sees before he falls unconscious is the two red dots on Kaede's pitch black mask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahusf this is the shortest chapter I've written for this fic but since so much stuff is revealed and so much happens in such a short time I should cut it short for now. Don't worry though I'll make sure the next chapter is much longer!
> 
> if anyone wants to talk to me about this au or anything drv3 related, don't be afraid to message me on tumblr (it's just therealassistant lmao)! beware of spoilers for the au though, although i do tag them as "drv3 batman au"
> 
> Anyways, feedback is welcomed and appreciated, and I hope you all have a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening!

**Author's Note:**

> WOW THIS WAS LONG
> 
> this is just a little project that I wrote up for fun, and by golly it was actually. really fun to write. I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> Anyway, comments and feedback are welcomed and appreciated! have a nice morning/afternoon/evening!


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